The Greatest Treasure of All
by Cielita
Summary: It's been a long week for Patrick and Emily. Finally back in Maryland, the two spend an evening working out some of the frustrations that arose during Book of Secrets.Rated for suggestive material and insinuated love scene. Even no. chapters by Jestana!
1. The Greatest Treasure of All

**The Greatest Treasure of All**

It wasn't until Dr. Patrick Henry Gates returned to the cool silence of his two story colonial style home that the feeling hit him. He wasn't certain what it was at first, but by the time he had showered, dressed in warm pajamas and a robe, and settled onto the sofa with a cup of coffee it was there. He picked up the remote control and idly flipped through a couple of channels. Nothing caught his attention; not even the historical programs that he and Ben loved to sit and laugh at for their inaccuracies. He and Emily had done that sometimes, too. Making a disinterested face, he switched off the television and turned his attention to the stack of newspapers that had collected while he was away. He picked up the one on the top of the pile and scanned the headlines while he took a soothing sip of his coffee. Again, he couldn't seem to focus and it was starting to bother him. He pulled a crocheted afghan over his lap before again attempting to watch something—anything—on television.

Patrick couldn't put his finger on the exact cause of this melancholy and it bothered him more than the melancholy itself. Something was missing or unfinished, as if he had forgotten to switch off a light or close the garage door. He frowned in thought as he glanced across the room to the windows, watching a soft Maryland rain patting against the glass and distant thunder softly rumbling a warning of an impending storm.

Patrick was so absorbed by the gentle sound of the rain that he didn't hear a car pulling up and into the driveway. A slight figure in a black coat meandered from the car toward the door, hesitating before the brick steps for a couple of seconds, and slowly soaking in the rain and the dark. The light flanking the front door punctured the darkness of the night and flooded a small area before the door in warm gold light. For a split second, the visitor considered retreating to the car and thought better of it, taking a breath and then taking the final steps that brought her within reach of the door. Briskly she knocked and then waited, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as the temperature crept just a little bit colder.

Patrick was startled by the sound, immediately setting the now empty coffee cup on the end table beside the discarded newspaper and rose to answer the door. He peered out the lace curtains that framed the window beside the front door and stood for a moment in surprise. It was the last person in the world he expected to see and the ache he had felt before was returning in earnest. He opened the door and found himself face to face with his ex wife, her eyes cast down and curly blonde hair slowly going limp in the rain. She clutched her coat closed with gloved hands, and appeared to swallow hard before looking up at him.

"Em? Is everything all right?" He asked, gesturing for her to come inside. He watched her enter, expecting at any moment that she might snap at him as was so often the case, but tonight she was quiet. She finally looked up at him with those sharp gray eyes that sometimes stormed like the Atlantic, or, like tonight, were soft after the worry and fear of the past week.

"I got home and couldn't seem to rest," she said finally. "I thought I'd…come and see if you were having the same problem." She couldn't seem to maintain eye contact, frequently averting her eyes in embarrassment. If she wanted to know if he'd been as restless as she was, she could have called. Patrick took a deep breath and nodded, gesturing again for her to come join him in the living room. Emily shed her coat and gloves, a little surprised when Patrick guided the coat from her shoulders and took it for her. She gingerly sat down on the sofa and lightly fingered the afghan.

"I didn't know you still had this," she murmured. "I remember making it. Ben was just a baby."

"Yes," Patrick said with a fond smile. "I remember." Emily blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light in the room and she noticed the program he had been watching on the long forgotten television.

"What are you watching?" she asked, her British accent like a dainty lilt on her voice. Patrick joined her on the sofa as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms listlessly. Patrick shifted his weight to free the edge of the afghan that he was sitting on and carefully leaned over to wrap it around Emily's shoulders, a gesture that made both of them momentarily smile. There was a pronounced crackle across the sky outside, followed by a flash. Both Emily and Patrick glanced instinctively at the window. The storm was getting closer.

"I really wasn't watching it…just…seemed to need the noise," Patrick replied, fumbling with the remote control.

"You always did," she replied. There was companionable silence for a few moments as Emily slowly relaxed against the back of the overstuffed sofa. Patrick, too, leaned back; glancing at Emily for just a moment before she very slowly leaned toward him, reclining against his shoulder as she had done days before when they were finally safe after escaping from Cibola, the City of Gold. Overwhelmed and exhausted, she had rested against him and he in turn had rested his head against hers. The empty, unfinished feeling waned as Patrick wrapped his left arm around Emily and she responded by inching closer to him and relaxing just a little more as she closed her eyes. She seemed to be absorbing his warmth to fend off the rain's chill and Patrick couldn't resist laying his cheek against the top of her head and taking a deep, even breath. There was a space of indeterminate time before Emily spoke again.

"When is Ben coming home?" she asked softly. Patrick smiled as he opened his blue eyes to meet her pale gray ones. He smiled and replied, "He moved back in with Abigail. I never thought I'd get all those boxes out of the house again." She chuckled. Emily turned her head to face the television, noting that the program had ended and another had begun. She glanced up slowly when Patrick covered her right hand with his left and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Em…I know that I've not always been there for you and for Ben…but you need to know that I loved you both very much. I…I never stopped loving you, no matter where I went," Patrick said. "The two of you were always on my mind and in my heart."

"Then why were you gone so much?" Emily replied, sitting up to look at him properly. "Each new exploit took you away from me and away from Ben and despite everything I said to you I never felt like it really sank in. You never seemed to understand what it did to us to watch you pack and walk away like that." Emily was now hugging her arms around her shoulders again, biting her lower lip in the effort it took not to raise her voice. Patrick was quiet for a moment, swallowing hard as he watched her struggle not to cry.

"I can't change what happened and the decisions I made. I can only explain to you that if it's one thing I learned from those treasure hunts and exploits, it was that I was so lucky to have a wife who knew that same thrill—understood the rush of discovery. I didn't understand that I was hurting you," Patrick said. "You were the whole world to me, Emily, you and Ben, and you still are my world." Emily struggled to decide what to say as a tear coursed down her face. Patrick stroked the tear away with his thumb and lightly kissed her cheek where the tear had been.

"If finding Cibola taught me anything, it's that something's been missing in my life for the past thirty years that treasure hunts and history and even our son couldn't fill. All the treasure in the world couldn't replace the treasure I had in you, Emily," Patrick said. Emily sniffled softly as she continued to cry, reaching up to bring his face the rest of the way to hers in a soft kiss. Patrick pulled back to stroke her hair and his expression changed to one of concern.

"You're shaking…honey, what's wrong?" he murmured.

"Until Cibola," she whispered, "I didn't realize just how much I missed you!" Emily wept as Patrick gingerly pulled her into his arms to hold her, rocking her gently and whispering that it was all right.

"I never stopped…loving you, either," Emily sobbed, clutching Patrick's shoulders and burying her face in his neck. Minutes later, she had calmed herself enough to sit back, still holding tightly to Patrick's hands and shuddering away the last of the tears before Patrick kissed her again, this time running his hand through her hair and holding her close. The kiss continued for only seconds before there was a loud crack of thunder and then a blinding flash of light and the electricity in the house went out, startling them. The two sat back, looking around in the darkness and then after a moment of silence, laughter bubbled through the quiet as the two rose from the sofa in search of candles and flashlights.

The two were still chuckling when Patrick returned to the sofa with a flashlight in his hand and watched Emily light one more candle, making a total of five on the coffee table in front of them. Emily reclined back into Patrick's embrace and sighed contentedly as he lifted her left hand to his lips and softly kissed it as they quietly observed the candle light. Relaxing minutes in the warmth of the candle light passed before Emily reached up to gently turn Patrick's face to hers. She smiled, making the glow of the light dance in her eyes as Patrick ducked to kiss her. She responded quickly to this, adjusting her position to make it easier for both of them to continue indulging the kiss, filling in the awful gap in their hearts that 32 years had created.

Patrick smoothed his hands over her shoulders, pushing the light-weight jacket off and revealing the thin tank top she wore beneath it. Emily sat up, making Patrick lean back against the stuffed cushions of the sofa while she let the jacket slip from her arms and discarded it onto the cushions beside them. She straddled his lap and took his face in her hands, smoothing his cheeks with her thumbs before leaning into him to kiss him again, her nimble hands working open his robe and then the pajama top. As she worked, Patrick let his hands roam across her back, down her narrow waist and over her thighs, subtly encouraging her to continue.

"Oh, Emily," he whispered between deep kisses. "My treasure…I've missed you so much…" His face was still close to hers as he spoke, and he playfully nudged her nose with his own and stole another soft kiss. Emily leaned back to free her arms and lift the tank top over her head, tossing the garment to the floor. When she moved, the flashlight that Patrick had left on the cushion beside him slid to the floor with a thud, extinguishing the light and making the reunited lovers laugh again. Patrick took the opportunity to sit forward, swinging his lithe ex wife around and lowering her to the sofa beneath him. He smiled as he sat up to abandon the robe and the pajama top. Patrick took his time softly stroking Emily's skin, relishing her reactions as she twisted and arched her back to press herself against his hands. He lowered his lips to her chest, slowly kissing a path around each of her breasts as he worked his hands beneath her to unhook the bra. She shrugged it off, deliriously attempting to help him get where he was going.

"I'll never make you wait for me again," he murmured, nuzzling her neck and kissing a line from her collar bones to her jaw and spending time on her earlobes and the shell-like contours of her upper ear as she clutched the stuffed arm of the sofa above her head. Patrick sat back, again observing Emily in sheer passion as he went to work unbuttoning her slacks. She sat up at this, pressing him upright so that she could do the same to him.

"See that you don't," she teased. Patrick smiled and both took only moments to finish disrobing. What remained of the evening was drowned in adrenaline and candle light as the two adventurers conquered one another again and again.

Patrick awoke at sunrise, the sunlight turning Emily's curls to a messy pile of spun gold. She was fast asleep on his chest, her head nestled down in the warmth of his skin and her breaths deep and even. The two were haphazardly covered with the afghan, and the candles had long ago extinguished themselves.

"What time is it?" Emily whispered, startling Patrick. Patrick hugged her with the arm he had fallen asleep with draped around her and kissed the top of her head before groping for his cell phone. Not only was it intolerably early, but more surprising was that the phone registered three missed calls from Ben.

"What is it?" Emily murmured, squinting to look at the display. "Oh, my…"

Emily sat up, pulling the afghan with her to cover herself and keep a little of the warmth she was so comfortable in. She excavated her own phone out of the pocket of her slacks and it, too, had several missed calls from their son.

"We're in trouble or so it would seem…" Patrick said softly.

"I wonder if he was trying to make sure we were all right with the power going out and all," Emily said, resuming her place snuggled between Patrick and the back of the sofa.

"I think we made it through the night just fine," Emily continued, closing her eyes again as Patrick chuckled and closed his own eyes again. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Patrick said. "How about a nice hot shower to get the day off right?"

"Mmmm…" Emily drowsily purred. "In a few hours, maybe. For now, I want to be here, asleep with you."

"That," he said happily, "is a good idea."


	2. Cherishing the Treasure

[[chapter 2 provided by Jestana]]

**Cherishing the Treasure  
**

Benjamin Franklin Gates sighed in frustration and snapped his cell phone shut when his call went to his mother's voice mail, again. "That's four times now."

"It's still fairly early in the day, Ben," Abigail Chase, his fiancée, pointed out, pouring coffee for both of them. "She could still be asleep."

He shook his head, setting his cell phone on the kitchen table and idly spinning it with his fingers, first one way then the other. "Not my mother. She's always up disgustingly early and fully cognizant. Unlike normal human beings who need coffee to help them wake up."

"There's a first time for everything," she reminded him, setting his coffee in front of him.

Benjamin sighed, sipping his coffee. "Dad I can understand not answering this early in the morning, but not Mom."

"If you're that worried about them, go check on them." Abigail's voice was exasperated as she slipped her arms around his shoulders and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

He smiled ruefully, covering her hands with one of his. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

"No, just a worrywart." She kissed the top of his head to take the sting out of her words. "Now, go check on your parents. You won't stop worrying about them until you do."

He shifted so he could see her face. Though her tone was light-hearted, her expression serious. "You mean that?"

"Of course." She nodded, smiling faintly. "You're concerned about your parents, so you'll be distracted until you've seen for yourself that they're perfectly fine and safe." She stroked his cheek tenderly. "So go."

Nodding, he got to his feet and kissed her softly. "I won't be long."

"I know." She returned his kiss with a fond smile. "Say hello to your parents for me."

"I will." He stroked her cheek gently and left to visit each of his parents' homes in turn.

***

"Emily." Dr. Emily Appleton refused to open her eyes. She was in the midst of a lovely dream that she'd finally reconciled with her ex-husband, that they were happy together. "Honey, wake up, please."

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and looked around. She wasn't in her own home in Maryland, but Patrick's home. In the living room, to be precise, stretched out on top of him on the couch. "Good morning, Pat."

"Morning, Em." He smiled as he stroked her cheek, tracing the arch of the cheekbone with his fingertips. "I hate to disturb you, but I need to use the facilities."

Laughing softly, Emily unwillingly shifted off her lover so he could get up. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He kissed her softly, reassuringly before leaning down to pick up his discarded robe and pajama pants. "I'd have gladly stayed there if it hadn't been for nature's call."

She smiled, watching as he put on his pajama pants and tied his robe shut. "We should probably be getting up soon, anyway." She picked up her phone and looked at the display. "Our son is probably frantic by now."

"Probably." Patrick picked up his phone to study the display. "I'll call him once I'm done in the bathroom."

Emily nodded, tilting her head as her lover, her treasure, ran his hand over the golden strands, mussing them even more. After he'd disappeared in the direction of the bathroom, she picked up his pajama top and slipped it on, breathing deeply as she was wrapped up in his scent. Despite all the years they'd spent apart, the mere sight of him in her office at the University of Maryland had made her heart skip a beat, or two, or three. Hell, part of her had wanted to go over and kiss him silly even while the she'd had sniped and snapped at him to hide that longing.

It was part of the reason she'd come here last night. She'd managed to ignore the emptiness of her life until Ben had brought Patrick back into it. After wandering restlessly through her house, she'd decided to go visit her ex-husband, see if he'd been feeling the same emptiness she had and, wonder of wonders, he had. He needed her just as she needed him. It had been lovely and beautiful, just as she'd remembered. She sighed happily and rubbed her cheek against the pajama collar, reveling in Patrick's scent.

The doorbell rang at that moment, breaking into her reverie. Quickly buttoning the pajama shirt, she got up to answer the door, peeking through the peephole first. Her son stood on the other side, glancing over his shoulder at the driveway where her car was still parked. Glancing down to make sure she was decent, Emily opened the door. "Good morning, Benjamin."

"Mom!" Ben stared at her in surprise that quickly shifted to shock when he saw what she was wearing. "Do I want to know what you're doing here?"

"Probably not, unless you want the illusion that you were immaculately conceived to be ruined," she conceded playfully, stepped back so her son could enter the house.

"All right, I walked into that one," Ben responded wryly, stepping inside and trying not to look ill at the thought of his parents indulging in anything more passionate than a kiss. As Emily closed the door, he asked, "Where's Dad?"

Patrick appeared just then, his hands buried in the pock-ets of his robe, his very glasses seeming to glint with mischief. "Right here, Ben."

"Good. You're fine, Mom's fine, I'll just go now." Ben started for the door.

Emily caught his hand. "Why don't you stay for a visit, Ben? We haven't really talked lately."

"Well, Abigail is expecting me to be back soon," Ben explained even as his mother gently but firmly steered him into the kitchen.

Following behind them, Patrick suggested, "Well, call her and ask her to join us. It'll be nice to sit and talk with her again."

"Neither of you is exactly dressed for company." Their son glanced from one to the other, and then down at the floor.

Emily finished starting the coffeemaker. "Pat, do you have some sweats I can borrow?"

"Certainly, Em." Patrick smiled fondly at his lover. "If you'll come with me?"

She crossed to his side and took his hand, kissing his cheek. Before she left the kitchen with Patrick, she looked at Ben. "Call Abigail, Ben."

"Yes, Mom." Ben sighed and they could hear him pulling out his cell phone as they headed to the master bedroom.

Emily stifled a laugh in Patrick's shoulder. "Poor Ben."

"At least we're up and partially dressed." Patrick commented, slipping his arm around her waist. "I can only imagine how much worse it would have been for him to have found us on the couch."

She smiled and waited patiently as Patrick rummaged through his bureau for something she could wear. "I believe the phrase my students would use in such a situation is 'scarred for life'."

"Yes, nothing quite like realizing that your parents did more than kiss in order to conceive you." Patrick offered Emily a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. "These shouldn't be too big on you."

Emily accepted the clothes and stretched up to kiss Patrick softly, a promise of more. "You still owe me a shower later."

"I haven't forgotten." He kissed her warmly. "I love you, Em."

"I love you, too, Pat." She turned and slipped into the bathroom to change.

Though she would have preferred to spend the morning alone with Patrick, she was not going to pass up this chance to talk with her son without a treasure hunt hanging over their heads. Besides, if she had anything to say about it, she'd be spending the rest of her life with Patrick anyway. She could afford to share him for an hour or two.

Fin


	3. A Gift of Treasure

**A Gift of Treasure**

Laughter mingled with the scent of coffee and the tingling effect of sunlight on skin as Ben Gates leaned against the cupboards in his father's kitchen. He was smiling as he watched Abigail talk to his mother, and his grin widened as his father rose from his chair to refill his mug, pausing just long enough to lightly kiss the top of Emily's head as he passed her.

Patrick grinned at his son as he passed him on the way to the coffee machine.

"You look a little shell shocked," he teased. Ben laughed at this and shook his head as he pressed his lips together and then smiled again as he met eyes with his father.

"If I wasn't standing here in the kitchen with the both of you I would say it was impossible," Ben said. Patrick patted his son on the back as they watched the women in their lives chat.

"It certainly does seem improbable, doesn't it?" Patrick chuckled softly. "I was feeling a little lost last night. Something was missing that I couldn't place until your mother arrived on my doorstep, all those curls going limp in the rain and her eyes so wide…as if she was just as lost and empty as I was at the exact same time."

"Don't get me wrong, Dad. It really is nice to see the two of you getting along," Ben said without really finishing his thought.

"But?" Patrick queried.

"But is this a one-time thing? I want you both to be happy but a big part of me doesn't want to watch the two of you go to blows again," Ben said.

"I know you're concerned, Ben, and you need to know that we both love you very much. Last night, each of us said I love you for the first time in over 30 years. Thirty years, Benjamin!" Patrick said.

"I've never seen you two so happy," Ben said with a grateful smile. He looked over at Abigail and his smile widened when she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry to be the one to break this up, but we have lunch plans and errands that have to be done before then, so we need to be going," Abigail said, rising from her chair. Ben set his mug in the sink to free his hands so that he could say goodbye and he and Abigail retreated to the cars they came in. Emily peered out the front window to watch them go, waving when they waved and then turned around to face Patrick, who smiled as she easily slipped into his arms.

"He's suspicious, isn't he?" Emily said softly. "He thinks it's just a fling; one night with a comfortable stranger that will pass when both of us regain our senses?" Patrick tightened his hold on Emily and lingered with his nose in her hair before kissing the top of her head.

"Yes, he is," Patrick said. "But that doesn't make him right. It's my opinion that neither of us had our senses until this whole thing with Cibola." Emily looked up at him with a smile that slowly faded as she gathered her thoughts and then spoke.

"Do you really believe that this isn't a one-time thing? Do you believe that two people can suddenly come back together after thirty years?" Emily said, her arms wrapped securely around Patrick's middle.

"Absolutely. Now, Dr. Appleton, would you like to shower first or shall I?" he teased. Emily smiled as she replied, "You. I'll take care of the coffee cups and be right up."

"Promise?" Patrick bantered innocently. Emily smiled broadly and said, "Yes, I do." Patrick laughed at this.

"I believe the last time you said that to me, it was our wedding day," Patrick said, giving Emily another kiss before turning to go upstairs.

Patrick stood under the stream of hot water and took his time letting it warm his skin. Part of him was still waiting to wake up and find all of this to have been a perfect dream. Latent images of his and Emily's night together still tumbled in his head, distracting him from noticing the bathroom door opening and closing. He turned when Emily joined him, slowly stepping into the shower behind him. She stroked his face as they indulged in a kiss as the steam from the shower drove the humidity up. Patrick turned them so that Emily was beneath the shower head and went to work kissing her neck and stroking her skin. Emily moaned softly as Patrick worked his way down to her collar bones and then carefully knelt to the floor of the tub, pressing his kisses to her belly as she ran her hands through his hair and held him to her. Where he placed his lips next made her gasp as much in surprise as in passion. Emily tossed her head back as he worked his magic, making her dizzy in the heat of the shower. She very nearly collapsed as her knees gave way, slipping to the floor in Patrick's arms. He caught her skillfully, setting her on her knees before him and taking some of the shampoo in his hands. He shared some of it with her and they took turns washing each other's hair before doing the same with the soap. They kissed hungrily as they smoothed the soap over one another's skin, igniting reactions in both of them as the soap and hot water made touching effortless and erotic.

After they'd rinsed off and shut off the water, they were barely dry before Patrick led Emily into the bedroom and pressing her to the bed beneath him. It was nearly noon when Emily stirred, sitting up on her elbow to watch Patrick sleep. She smiled and took a deep breath of the clean scent that Patrick's shower soap had left hanging in the air. She leaned down and softly kissed his lips, chuckling as he smiled before opening his eyes.

"Good morning, again," he murmured.

"Nearly afternoon," Emily bantered back. She shifted her weight and snuggled back down beside him, pulling a thick, soft blanket from the end of the bed over them.

"It's so nice to have you back in my arms, Em," he murmured, kissing her forehead.

"Just nice?" she asked playfully, lightly tracing designs on his chest with her fingertips.

"Wonderful…incredible…amazing…" he added as they laughed. "I love you, my Emily." She kissed his mouth as she cuddled closer to him. "I love you, too, my Patrick."

Ben and Abigail sat down to eat lunch in a sunny café but Ben's mind couldn't have been further away.

"Earth to Ben," Abigail said from the other side of her menu. "You are one distracted guy! Are you still dwelling on this thing with your mom and dad?"

"I can't help it, honey, I'm sorry. I promise, I'll be more present for the rest of the day," Ben said apologetically. Abigail put the menu down, reached across the table and covered Ben's hand with her own. When he looked up, she smiled sympathetically and said, "I love them, too. I understand." Ben smiled back but said nothing for a few heartbeats.

"It's just that they've been fighting for most of my life and I can't help but feel a little apprehensive about this. I mean, one trip to the City of Gold and they reconcile thirty-two years of bickering and criticizing and putting each other down? How can things change so fast?" Ben gushed.

"We did," Abigail said gently. "You and I were dividing up the furniture and you moved out, remember? They're no different than us, Ben."

"Thirty years is a long time, Abigail," Ben said.

"I know," Abigail replied. She was quiet for a moment and then looked at him again and said, "Will you be all right if this is a permanent arrangement? If they reconcile or even remarry?"

"Remarry?" Ben asked.

"Why not?" Abigail said.

"Who's getting remarried? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?" said a familiar voice. Riley Poole strode up to the table, took up a menu and dropped into one of the empty chairs at Ben and Abigail's table.

"You're late, Riley," Abigail teased.

"I spent the morning on the phone with Jacqueline," he said. Jacqueline was a lovely young lady who had bought Riley's book and recognized him when she saw him at Mount Rushmore. The two hit it off well and had exchanged phone numbers and emails that night.

"So, do you know what you want to eat? I think the waiter is coming back," Ben said.

"No one answered my question. Who's getting married?" Riley said, wrinkling his brow in confusion. Abigail couldn't fight a grin as she turned and leaned a little closer to Riley to whisper to him what had transpired for them that morning. Riley's smile spread faster than a summer wildfire and he looked up at Ben who was very intently studying his menu.

"Please tell me that you're happy about this," Riley said. "Your folks patched things up!"

"Of course I'm happy about it," Ben said. "I'm just a little unnerved. You would be too if you discovered your long-divorced parents had suddenly spent the night together." Riley appeared to actually contemplate this a moment before Abigail spoke again.

"It was really cute," she said with a smile. "She was wearing his shirt and everything." Ben finally put down the menu.

"Could we stop talking about this, please?" he said in exasperation. Abigail wasn't done yet.

"Before you got here, I was asking him if he was going to be all right if they made it permanent," she said.

"Permanent…" Riley said. "Wow…that really is something, isn't it? They haven't spoken in 30 odd years and then one near-death adventure brings it all back. It's the stuff of great movies!" Plainly, the two were trying to get a rise out of Ben and it was working. Riley snorted, Abigail giggled, and finally Ben cracked a grin and started to laugh with them.

"Okay, okay," he said, taking a sip of his water, "I admit, I would be thrilled if they were to patch it up and remarry, but I'm not counting my chickens till they hatch. Can we order now?"

***

"Something in here smells absolutely divine," Patrick said, emerging from his den and making a bee-line for the kitchen. Emily was busily preparing lunch and looked up to acknowledge him. She paused for them to share a quick kiss and then turned back to the concoction on the stove.

"It's a good thing I went out and did some shopping. You have next to nothing in this house!" she said. Patrick chuckled, tenderly squeezed her shoulders and kissed her neck on his way to the cupboard to start setting the table. Emily had made a trip home to change her clothes and then had gone to the grocery store to find things for lunch. Short of restocking his entire refrigerator and pantry, she picked up a few essentials and fixings for a good cool-but-sunny autumn day meal. Tomato soup simmered in the pot she was stirring and toasted cheese sandwiches sizzled on a griddle nearby.

"Where did you get to while I was gone? You were missing in action when I got back from the store," Emily asked idly.

"Oh, I was upstairs looking for something. It was something I put away for safekeeping and having you here with me reminded me about it," Patrick said. Emily turned, one graceful eyebrow arched in confusion.

"What are you up to?" she asked. He smiled and said, "You'll see." Emily wasn't satisfied with this answer, but turned back to the soup before reminding him that lunch was almost ready.

"Em, can you come in here for a moment? I have a question for you," Patrick said. Emily sighed as she took the soup off the burner and shut off the griddle, wiping her hands on a towel before joining him in the dining room.

"What is it?" she asked, coming to stand beside him. He was sitting at the table with a velvety black jewelry box, too big for a ring and too square for a bracelet. What was he up to?

"I bought this in Paris years ago, after an expedition. When I got home, you were upset with me, as you were more than justified to be, and I forgot about it. By the time I realized I still had it, our marriage had ended. It's been a long road that's led us back together, Em, and I still want you to have the gift I bought for you all those years ago," Patrick explained, slowly pushing the box across to her. Emily looked at him, speechless, and gingerly opened it. Inside was the most beautiful diamond necklace she'd ever seen.

"I chose the stones myself. I wanted to make sure that they were as brilliant as I could get them and high grade to boot. It's the only one of its kind…kind of like you," Patrick said. The necklace was set in platinum and held three diamonds. The center was a full 1.14 carats and each side stone was a half a carat in weight. All three stones were flawless and ideally cut. Patrick stood to put it around her neck and fasten it for her as she sat stunned in her chair.

"You said you had a question for me," Emily said breathlessly.

"Would you give an old man a second chance to be your husband?" Patrick said, holding Emily's left hand between both of his. "Will you marry me again?" Dizzy with surprise, Emily shook her head to dispel the feeling and smiled brilliantly as she said, "Of course! Yes!" Patrick opened his arms and Emily slid easily into them, kissing him soundly. They sat for a moment in the rapture of the promise they had just made before Emily remembered that their lunch was getting cold. They were still smiling when they meandered back into the kitchen to eat.


	4. Intangible Treasure

**Intangible Treasure**

After they'd placed their orders, Abigail turned to Riley, deciding it was time to take the spotlight off her fiancé. "So, how are things with Jacqui?"

"They'd be better if we were in the same state," Riley replied, his eyes lighting up in a way that reminded Abigail of when he'd found treasure. "But, still, we never seem to run out of stuff to talk about."

Ben quickly smothered a cough that sounded more like a chuckle. "Such as your book?"

"More than that, Ben." Riley shot a glare at his best friend, but it was soon gone. "She's into conspiracy theories, yes, but she's also working on a degree in history, specializing in Native American culture and languages."

Abigail exchanged an amused glance with Ben. "That sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it, Ben?"

"Just a little, Abigail," Ben agreed with a smirk. They gazed at Riley as their food was delivered, watching as he squirmed. Once the waiter was gone, Ben leaned forward and asked, "Is this just a sign that you have a crush on my mom?"

Riley stared at Ben, shocked and surprised. "NO!"

"So you think she's hideous, then?" Ben retorted calmly, cutting his steak into bite-sized pieces.

Waving his hands, Riley quickly recovered. "It's not that, either."

"Then what is it?" Ben popped a piece of steak into his mouth and chewed as he waited patiently for Riley to dig himself a deeper hole.

Abigail ruined the effect with her giggles. Riley glanced at her, frowning, and then rolled his eyes, exasperated. "You were just messing with my head, weren't you?"

"I'm sorry, Riley." Ben's stern façade cracked and he started laughing. "I couldn't resist."

Riley tried to maintain his offended dignity, but he was soon laughing with the other two. The other diners wondered what was so amusing.

* * *

After lunch, Emily insisted that they go grocery shopping, teasing him, "A look in your cupboards and one would think you were Old Mother Hubbard."

"Yes, dear." He opened the door for her and kissed her cheek as she moved past him. "I never really liked grocery shopping."

She slipped her arm through his as they walked to his car. "It's a wonder you survived thirty years without me."

"I had Ben." Patrick shrugged, opening the passenger door for Emily. "He did the shopping for both of us and I paid him back for my share. Even when we weren't talking much or he was off on the treasure hunt, Ben still made sure I had enough groceries."

She paused in the act of getting into the car. "What do you mean, you weren't talking much?"

"He didn't tell you?" Patrick looked surprised as Emily finished getting in the car. "Oh, well, it's water under the bridge now."

Emily caught the door before he could close it all the way. "Pat, what are you not telling me?"

"Let's get going and I'll tell you on the way," he suggested. When she nodded, he closed the door and climbed in behind the wheel. They were silent as he started the car and backed out of the driveway. Once they were on their way, Patrick finally spoke up, his voice quiet. "I gave up on the Templar Treasure." She blinked at stared at him. Those were words she'd never expected to hear from him. "You're well aware of what the search did to the family name."

She nodded, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "Yes, I am. It almost dragged me down with it."

"That's why I never blamed you for leaving. You had to think of your career." Patrick sighed, turning into a parking lot. "Anyway, my dad told Ben about the treasure and, naturally, Ben was eager to go searching for the treasure, too."

"Yes, yes, I'm well aware of what happened," she interrupted impatiently, turning in her seat to face him. "What I want to know is why you two didn't talk much."

Patrick pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car, looking up to meet her gray eyes with his blue ones. "He wanted to look for the treasure and I didn't." He cleared his throat, looking out the windshield. "I couldn't cut ties with him completely, though. Ben was all I had left of you after you walked out of our lives."

"Oh, Pat." She reached up and cupped his cheek with her hand, tears stinging at her eyes. "I'm sorry I left, but I couldn't take it anymore. Between all your trips and the ridicule I was beginning to face, I had to do something. I tried to warn you, but you never seemed to listen. So I left."

He covered her hand with his, kissing the palm, his eyes suspiciously moist behind his glasses. "I know, Em. I know."

They took a few moments to compose themselves, and then climbed out of the car to go in and start grocery shopping. Emily slipped her arm through Patrick's as they pushed a cart up and down the aisles, picking up the necessities and the occasional item that looked interesting. It was very domestic and very soothing. She couldn't help musing that this was all she wanted for the rest of her life.

* * *

It was almost two in the morning when the ringing of the telephone woke Abigail and Ben up. Groaning in annoyance, Abigail reached out and grabbed the phone from the bedside table. "This had better be important."

"Sorry to wake you, Dr. Chase." She blinked and sat up when she recognized the sound of Agent Peter Sadusky's distinct accent in her ear. "There's been a break-in at the National Archives."

She groaned, covering her face with her free hand. "Not again."

"I have agents interviewing the security and staff already." Sadusky sounded amused rather than annoyed. "I hadn't realized there were other ways to break into the National Archives."

Abigail shook her head, glaring half-heartedly at Ben, who was watching her with a puzzled look on his face. "If you have money enough, you can break in anywhere, apparently."

"If you say so, Dr. Chase." It sounded like Sadusky actually chuckled! "You can wait until morning to come in."

She nodded, her voice dry. "Thank you. Good night."

"Good night."

Abigail rolled over to hang up the phone, and then shifted onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Ben stretched out next to her, taking her hand in his. "Someone broke into the National Archives?"

"Yes. Sadusky said I didn't have to come in until morning." She turned her head, watching as Ben began kissing her fingers. "What are you doing?"

Between kisses that slowly moved up her fingers to her palm, Ben explained, "Distracting you. Since we're already awake, we may as well enjoy ourselves before duty calls."

"Ben, someone just broke into the National Archives. I can't lay here and--" Any further words on her part were cut off when Ben's mouth covered hers in a warm kiss.

She resisted for only a few seconds before giving into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. When he finally pulled back, both of them were more than a little dazed. "Yes, it's far from good that someone broke into the National Archives, but there's nothing you can do about it right now."

"I'm the National Archivist. I should--ooh!" She gasped when Ben nipped at her throat, tilting her head back as he moved down towards her collar bones. "Oh God, Ben."

He paused, leaning over her, and asked, "Yes, dear?"

"Come here." She tugged him up for another hungry kiss, sliding her hands up and down his back as he slipped between her thighs, stroking and caressing her breasts. Coherent speech fled as they gave in to their passion and hunger for each other, moaning and gasping each other's names when the pleasure finally overwhelmed them.

Afterwards, they lay in a tangle of sweaty limbs, Abigail resting on Ben's chest, listening to his heartbeat, sighing softly as he combed his fingers through her hair. "Try to sleep. We'll find out what happened in the morning."

"I love you, Ben," she murmured, pressing a kiss to his chest.

She smiled as she felt him kiss the top of her head. "I love you, too, Abigail."

* * *

Jacqueline sat her kitchen table, doing the newspaper's crossword and drinking a cup of coffee when pounding on her door startled her. Glancing at the clock, she wondered who would want to visit her so early on a Sunday morning. Then she looked through the peephole and shook her head in fond exasperation. Only her brother would disturb her this early on the weekend. Unlocking the door, she opened it as far as the security chain would allow. "Good morning, brother dear, long time, no see."

"Yeah, good morning, sister dear," Jacob Bonner retorted, glancing over his shoulder. "No see, long time. Can I come in now?"

Smiling, Jacqueline closed the door enough to undo the security chain, and then opened it further. "Would you like some coffee? I just made a pot."

"Coffee would be good, yeah." Jacob closed the door behind him and moved to peer out the window. "Do you have anything to eat?"

Amused, Jacqueline went into the kitchen to pour coffee for her twin brother and warm up some croissants. "What brings you here? I haven't heard from you in awhile."

"Oh, I got involved in a research project that looks like it's going to pay off pretty well," Jacob answered from the living room, where he'd sprawled on her couch, propping booted feet on the coffee table.

Rolling her eyes, she nudged his feet off and handed him the coffee and croissants. "What sort of research project?"

"Something that we were hoping you could help us with." Jacob sipped the coffee and nodded to the bag he'd brought in with him. "Since you're studying Native American languages, we thought you could translate something for us."

Intrigued, Jacqueline went over to the bag and carried it over to the coffee table. Jacob quickly transferred his croissants onto his lap and watched as she opened the duffle bag. Inside was some sort of oilskin wrapping. She carefully unfolded it to reveal an animal skin of some kind, with symbols inscribed on it in some sort of permanent ink. "Wow, this is amazing. Where did you get it?"

"It was found in northern California, near Mount Shasta," Jacob explained, focused on tearing the last croissant apart, bit by bit. "We think it has something to do with an Indian legend or something like that." He stuffed the last of the croissant in his mouth. "Can you translate it?"

She shook her head regretfully. "No, I don't know the written languages well enough to even tell you what this is." She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "Don't you have an expert on your research team?"

"We weren't quite sure what we'd be researching, so no." He finished his coffee. "Do you know of anyone who might be able to translate that?"

Jacqueline bit her lip, thinking hard. "Well, I know _of_ an expert in Ancient Indian cultures, but I don't _know_ her."

"Do you know someone who _would_ know her?" Jacob leaned forward, green eyes boring into matching green. "Please, Jacqui? It's important."

Nodding, she patted his hand. "Hang on, let me make a phone call."

"Thanks, Sis." He looked profoundly relieved.

She rolled her eyes. "Wait until I've gotten some contact information for you."

"Right." Jacob watched as Jacqueline began looking for her cordless phone so she could call the one person who might be able to help.

**End**


	5. Seeking Treasure

Chapter 5

**Seeking Treasure**

Monday morning came all too quickly for Emily Appleton. Before she knew it, her weekend was over, and she was stuffing papers in her satchel and generally rushing about to get going before her classes start. She'd forgotten that Patrick lived several miles farther from the university than she did, so today her commute would be longer. She was briskly approaching the door when Patrick called out, "Aren't you forgetting something?" Emily quickly browsed over what was in her hands: keys—purse—bag—coat—

She looked up as Patrick approached, smiling serenely at her and indicating his cheek with his forefinger. Emily laughed, draped her arms around his neck and administered a mind-numbing kiss to his mouth that inherently promised more later when she got home. He pressed a brown paper bag lunch into her open book bag and she was gone. Patrick closed the door behind her and sighed contentedly as he went about preparing for his own day.

***

At 1:30pm, Emily was browsing over the reports from her graduate students working in the field when the telephone rang.

"I'm calling to find out where you would like to go for dinner tonight," Patrick said, making Emily smile as she removed her reading glasses.

"What's the occasion?" she asked, sitting back in her chair.

"Do I need an excuse to spoil the woman I love?" he teased. When she laughed rather than answering, he continued, "You don't have to decide this minute, but let me know this afternoon before you leave the office and I'll make arrangements. Ben and Abigail would like to come with us so I'll need to let them know."

"Sounds good. I don't often go out to eat anymore…I'll really have to look into it!" Emily said. "Anywhere I'd like?"

"Anywhere at all," he assured her. "I have to go for now, but you have the cell phone number and you can leave me a message. I love you, Em."

"I love you, too. See you when I get home," Emily said, still grinning and blushing like a teenager when she hung up the phone. So many of her colleagues and students had commented that she looked so well rested and so happy that she'd had to look in the mirror on her office wall to see what they meant. Emily had lightly touched her own cheeks in wonder as she observed that her complexion was brighter, her eyes were clearer, and she seemed to truly give off a vibration of easy happiness that must have baffled the entire scholarly community. A history professor friend had even joked that Dr. Appleton must have found the fountain of youth along with Cibola. Emily pulled a worn phone book from a drawer in her desk and began to scan the listings of restaurants.

***

Patrick hummed as he dressed for the evening. Emily had called an hour before and chosen a lovely French restaurant and he wanted to look his best. As he dressed, he couldn't help noticing that the three piece suit that used to fit him so well was snugger than he remembered. Perhaps, he thought, Emily wouldn't mind going for walks with him in the evenings to help him get into shape. After all, she had agreed to marry him again—he wanted more than anything to offer her the best husband that he could possibly be. He finished just as the doorbell rang. Ben and Abigail were there. Now all they needed was the guest of honor. He was beginning to wonder what was holding Emily up, but perhaps she had gone home to dress and do her hair and was running late. Patrick was in far too good of a mood to nit-pick about the time. They would have the rest of their lives, right?

***

Emily was eagerly packing her things to go home at five o'clock. She was still smiling from ear to ear and was going over in her head what she should wear to dinner. A knock at her door startled her but she called, "Come in." A tall man in a crème white suit strode into her office bearing a tube that looked like the kind fragile documents were carried in. The man had slicked back dark brown hair that turned to curls as soon as it passed his ears. His eyes were cerulean blue and matched the shirt he wore. The tie was the same color as the rest of the suit, and so were his shoes. His complexion betrayed a Mediterranean lifestyle, but his accent was what threw Emily when he spoke: it was British, like her own.

"Dr. Appleton, I presume?" he said politely.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm leaving the office early tonight," she said professionally. "If you speak to the department secretary—"

"This won't take long. I need you to take a look at an artifact that my research team is investigating," he said.

"I beg your pardon, you are?" Emily said. This man had quite a bit of nerve insisting on seeing her when she had just told him she was leaving for the day. The man smiled cordially and extended his large, tanned hand.

"Dr. Odysseus Major," he replied, shaking Emily's hand a little more firmly than he needed to.

"Forgive me, Dr. Major," Emily said, "but I have to wonder why you don't have an expert on your research team. There are many talented—"

"Our expert was not familiar with this particular dialect and she recommended you," he said, interrupting her for the second time. Emily's patience was swiftly receding at the same rate that her own innate curiosity was growing.

"I haven't all night," she said. "Let's see it. I cannot promise that I know it either, but I will try." Emily set her things on the floor behind her desk and dug her glasses out of her pocket as Dr. Major spread a delicate-looking animal skin parchment onto the coffee table across the room. Emily's jaw fell open.

"Where did you find this?" She asked.

"It's been on display in a museum but no one's been able to identify the markings. It was donate to the museum by a family that's had it since the gold rush," Major replied.

"Shasta?" she asked, beginning to examine the markings.

"Then you know it? You can translate it?" Major asked. Emily looked at the markings again and then slowly took a breath.

"There are variations in the dialect that I've never seen before. I would need to know much more about this in order to even begin to research the markings. You have a very finely preserved map, sir, but at the moment, that is all that it is. If you can give me scans of these and a few days to look them over, I'm sure I can at least attempt to translate," Emily said. Major looked down at his fine shoes and then back at her. Emily sat back almost imperceptibly. Something in the change of his expression put her on her guard and she didn't know why.

"I'm afraid I don't have that kind of time, Dr. Appleton," Major said. Briskly, Emily stood and started back toward her desk.

"Then I'm afraid, Dr. Major, that I cannot help you," she said, picking up her phone. "I'll call the department secretary and see if she can schedule you an appointment to see me tomorrow."

"There's been a change of plans," Major said firmly. Emily looked up to see that Dr. Major had removed a gun from a shoulder holster inside his previously buttoned jacket and was pointing it at her. Emily inconspicuously dialed her voicemail as she set down the receiver.

"What on earth is going on here?" Emily asked.

"You're coming with me, Dr. Appleton," Major replied.

"Where?"

"That map that you claim you can't translate is not just any map. It's leads to a quaint little northern California ghost town," he said, his eyes narrowed and focused on any move that she might make.

"California…Shasta? I've no intention of going off on another buried treasure hunt! I've had quite my fill of adventure for the time being!" Emily cried. The stubbornness in her that was usually so endearing was now quite adamant.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," Major said, indicating his weapon.

"I said, no," Emily growled. "If you think, young man, that this is the first time a gun's been pointed in my face, you've got—" Emily abruptly stopped herself when the hammer clicked back into place, making the weapon ready to fire at a fraction of a second's notice. Emily's bravely had nearly run out. Some things were more important than bravery: thoughts of Ben, Abigail, Patrick, and even Riley swirled in her head as she swallowed hard and then nodded.

"I think you've made your point, Dr. Major. California it is," Emily said, setting the handset back on the cradle. A note of fear ran through her voice as she spoke, as if this time, she wasn't sure that this time she'd make it out alive. As they left the office, the little red light indicating a message on Emily's phone blinked in the dim afternoon light.

***

"I wonder what's keeping your mother," Patrick said, sitting in the living room with Ben and Abigail. "She said she was leaving as soon as she could pack her things and that she was going home to change, but she's never taken this long to get ready."

"You don't suppose there could have been an accident, do you?" Abigail said gently.

"God forbid," said Patrick softly as he looked from Abigail to Ben. He stood and walked to the mantle and back as Ben pulled his cell phone out and instinctively dialed his mother's phone number. All thirty of the seconds it took for the phone to ring and then transfer to her voicemail felt like they had weights attached to them as Ben listened to the message and then hung up without leaving one of his own.

"I'm sorry," Abigail said. "I didn't mean to frighten you. Maybe she just left it in her purse or something. I do that all the time." She was trying to make Patrick and Ben feel better, but it wasn't working as well as she hoped. Ben took a few steps and then turned back to them.

"Why don't we swing by the house and get her? She could just be running later than she thought," Ben said. As they gathered their coats, Patrick still wasn't convinced.

"Or she's been in an accident like Abigail said," he said nervously. "She could have fallen in the shower, or down the stairs…she could have had a heart attack for all I know!"

"Dad…" Ben said as they got in the car.

"Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women?" Patrick asked.

"Mom's a lot of things, but frail is not one of them," Ben insisted. "Did she tell you about the mugger she sent to the emergency room?"

"Say what?" Patrick gasped. Abigail was fighting a grin. "I haven't heard this story either," she said.

"Let's just say he pulled a knife on her and she broke a few things besides his pride," Ben said.

"My goodness…" Patrick muttered in wonder.

"Mom's perfectly healthy and feistier than hell," Ben continued. "I don't want to hear another word about it."

"As you wish," Patrick said with a note of 'you'll be sorry' in his voice. "But when she's lying in a ditch somewhere…"

"Dad!"

"Patrick, really!"

"All right! All right! I'm overreacting!" Patrick said, throwing his hands in the air. "I just don't want anything to be wrong…" There was sympathetic silence in the car for a few moments before Ben stopped for a red light and turned to look at his father.

"I'm sure she's fine," Ben said gently. Patrick nodded but didn't reply. He was still trying to get his own heart to stop pounding in nervous fear of what they'd find when they arrived at Emily's home.

Patrick's mouth went dry when they discovered that Emily's car wasn't in the driveway and her house was secure—as if she hadn't been home yet. Abigail was worried again, and now even Ben was starting to pace, much like his father sometimes did.

"Before we panic, let's check the university. Maybe she just got carried away working. She's not really used to having evening plans. She's more of a workaholic than I am," Ben suggested.

"All right," Patrick said.

"Good idea," Abigail affirmed as they got back into the car.

As they walked through the empty halls of the linguistics department to Emily's office, the trio felt strangely overdressed, but the strangeness only felt stronger when they discovered that Emily's office had been left unlocked and the desk light left on. Ben entered slowly, calling out, "Mom? Are you still here?" When his question went unanswered, he drew closer to the desk with Abigail and Patrick behind him.

"This isn't like her," Abigail said softly.

"I know," Ben said, sitting down in the chair at his mother's desk.

"Stubborn, feisty, intelligent, and apparently quite the magician to pull off such a disappearing act," Patrick grumbled.

"She may be all of that," Ben replied, ignoring the tone of his father's weary voice, "but she's also a Gates. If something was wrong, she would have left us some sort of a clue or a trail to follow."

"If she's so meticulous, she would never have left a message unanswered before she left," Abigail said, gesturing toward the blinking indicator on the phone.

"You may have something there," Ben said, picking up the receiver. A quick search of the shallow middle drawer of the desk got him a little card with her email and voicemail passwords on it, and he carefully pressed each digit and pushed the speaker button so that Abigail and Patrick could hear also. When Emily's voice and that of a stranger played out on the recording, Ben's gaze immediately met his father's. Patrick had to sit down and Abigail bit her lip as she held onto Ben's shoulders.

"We need to know everything there is to know about that map, that legend, and that man and we need to know it fast," Ben said gravely, standing up and pushing in the chair.

"I'll call Riley," Abigail said, opening her cell phone and dialing while Ben crossed the room to sit beside his father, "and I'll have to call Agent Sadusky, too."

"Why?" Ben asked as he sat down.

"That map was the document stolen from the National Archives last night," Abigail said nervously. Ben turned his attention to his father, who sat forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped before his eyes. He looked up at Ben with a look that spelled heartbreak as clearly as Abigail's had when they were escaping from Cibola and Ben had volunteered to stay behind. It tore at Ben's heartstrings and he slid his arm around his father's shoulders.

"Ben…I just…" Patrick choked out, his eyesight blurring with tears.

"I know, dad. I know you just got her back…she's going to be okay," Ben said softly.

"You can't know that," Patrick said.

"It will take them at least three days to drive and we're only a couple of hours behind them. They need her to translate the map and any symbols along the way. She's going to be okay, dad," Ben explained.

"I hope to God you're right, son," Patrick said softly. Abigail snapped her phone closed and turned to them.

"You're not going to believe this," she huffed. "It's a good thing you two are already sitting down."


	6. Following the Treasure

**Following the Treasure**

Riley was still apologizing when he met them at Patrick's house. "I'm sorry, I had no idea that Emily would be kidnapped. Jacqui said it was for a research project."

"It's okay, Riley." Ben patted his friend's shoulder. "We don't blame you at all. And we don't blame Jacqui, either."

Abigail nodded, smiling reassuringly. "It's this Dr. Major we blame for this."

"Keep searching for information, please," Patrick added, pacing the room restlessly, clearly very anxious about the fact that Emily was missing.

At that moment, Riley's cell phone rang. Ben sighed and threw up a hand. "Riley, this isn't the time for personal calls."

"No, wait, it's Jacqui. Maybe she knows more." Riley flipped the phone open. "Jacqui, hi!"

Ben rubbed the bridge of his nose and sank onto the couch, muttering under his breath, "This is ridiculous."

"He has a point, Ben." Abigail sat down beside him, rubbing his back soothingly.

Patrick took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "The longer we take to figure anything out, the farther away they'll get!"

"Your brother brought it to you?" Riley's question broke into their discussion, startling them. "Did he say what it was for?" Ben caught Riley's eye and gestured for him to put it on speakerphone. Nodding, Riley found the adaptor to plug it into his laptop. "Hang on, Jacqui. I'm going to put you on speakerphone."

After a moment of silence while Riley plugged the phone in, Jacqui's voice suddenly filled the room. "--ting me on speakerphone? Why?"

"The thing is, we have a bit of a crisis out here and we think you might be able to help us." Riley glanced at the others, the glow of the computer screen glinting off his glasses.

A sound of worry emitted from the computer speakers. "A crisis? What sort of crisis?"

"Emily's been kidnapped," Riley explained, pausing when Jacqui gasped. "The men who wanted the writing on the animal skin translated did it."

"Oh my God." Jacqui sounded honestly distressed. "I'm so sorry! Jacob said they wanted it translated, I had no idea it was going to turn into something worth kidnapping someone over!"

The other three exchanged glances while Riley spoke quickly. "It's okay, Jacqui. We're not blaming you or anything. Can you tell us anything about your brother's friends? It's important."

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about them." The sound of pacing accompanied Jacqui's words now. "I don't see Jacob very often anymore. I don't know what he gets up to or anything."

Patrick leaned forward over the desk, unable to keep quiet any longer. "Did he say why he wanted the skin translated? What it was for?"

After a pause, Jacqui answered slowly, obviously startled that it hadn't been Riley who'd asked the question. "Only that it was for this research institute that he'd joined."

"Did he give you a name?" Ben hung over Riley's shoulder, addressing the phone directly.

"Yeah, the Mount Shasta Research Institute." Jacqui sounded less surprised.

They all looked at Riley, who quickly typed that into a search engine. After a few moments, he shook his head. "I don't think it exists, Jacqui."

"Oh, damn, this is all my fault!" The sound of pacing stopped and Jacqui sounded honestly distressed over the situation. "I shouldn't have given Jacob that information."

Riley glanced at the three of them hanging over him and gestured for them to back away. "Calm down, Jacqui. You are _not_ responsible for Emily's kidnapping, okay? You just thought you were helping your brother."

"You _do_ know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, right? " Jacqui retorted, vehemence in her voice.

Ben and Patrick exchanged amused glances. For a moment, Jacqui had sounded just like Emily or Abigail. Unaware of the exchange, Riley continued his conversation with Jacqui. "There's nothing you can do now. We'll get her back."

"How do you plan to do that?" She sounded skeptical. "You don't know how or when they'll get wherever they're going."

Riley actually smirked, tapping a few keys on his keyboard. "Either the 'bad guys' are really stupid--"

"Careful, Riley, one of those 'bad guys' happens to be my brother." There was almost a growl in Jacqui's voice this time.

A panicked expression crossed Riley's face as he realized his faux pas. "Right. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that Emily still has her phone, so I'm tracking them through the GPS chip in that."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it, since I don't know much more about using my phone than making phone calls and sending text messages." Jacqui sounded amused.

Riley grinned, seeming almost to preen. "Once we know for sure where they're going, we'll take the earliest possible plane there so we get there first and grab her."

"How did you know you could track her phone, anyway?" Puzzlement had entered Jacqui's voice now. "They could have easily ditched it or something like that."

Abigail leaned forward to answer the question, since Riley hadn't been present when they'd searched Emily's office. "It wasn't in her purse or satchel, so we figured she must have managed to grab it before she was taken."

"And you're _sure_ they didn't just toss it in a different vehicle or something?" There was a distinct note of skepticism in the question.

Riley answered the question, a hint of wounded pride in his tone. "We already have a general idea of where they're going and the phone is going that way, so it seems likely."

"And where do you think they're going?" Jacqui's voice sounded exaggeratedly patient now.

Much to everyone's surprise, Patrick answered the question. "Think about the name of their 'research institute', Jacqui."

After a moment, Jacqui breathed the answer into her phone, "Shasta."

"Exactly." Riley looked very pleased with how quickly she realized the answer.

"I'll meet you there, then." The pleased expression on Riley's face faded at that simple statement.

He glanced at the others, panic in his brown eyes. "It'll probably be very dangerous."

"So? Are you trying to say that _you_ can charge full speed into a dangerous situation, but I can't?" She sounded very annoyed.

Riley gave Ben a pleading look, but the other man simply held up his hands. Rolling his eyes, the younger man explained, "It's not that I _want_ to throw myself into danger, but--"

"Is this because I'm a woman?" Jacqui sounded more than annoyed. She was angry.

When Riley opened his mouth, Ben held up a hand to keep him from saying anything. "She has a point. We can't stop her from doing anything."

"You're damn right you can't." She sounded pleased that Ben had taken her side. Riley, on the other hand, looked ready to murder Ben with his bare hands. "I'll head out to Shasta as soon as I get the time off from work and school."

Riley shook his head, almost frantic to regain control of the situation. "You can't blow those off! They're too important!"

"I'll just tell them I have a family emergency." Jacqui seemed completely blasé about it. "This is more important."

Abigail stifled a giggle, blue eyes dancing as they met Ben's. Very quietly, she murmured, "She has her priorities straight."

"Okay, let us know when you get there and try not to draw attention to yourself." Ben found Abigail's hand with his and squeezed it gently.

"I'll see you there. Thanks, Ben." Jacqui sounded quite satisfied with herself.

Glaring at Ben, Riley yanked the phone out of the speakerphone dock and stalked out of the room, speaking quickly into it as he went. Patrick addressed his son, "Why are you letting her join us?"

"For the same reason Abigail came along when we were looking for the Templar Treasure," Ben replied, smiling fondly at her. "She'd have kept insisting until we agreed."

Abigail frowned, playfully cuffing Ben's shoulder. "You had the Declaration and you were going to examine it for invisible ink. I couldn't just walk off without it!"

"Ben, if she's hurt in any way, _you_ are going to pay for it." Riley had stalked back into the room and sat down at his laptop, his typing firm and a rare scowl creasing his features.

Amused glances passed amongst the other three. Riley was _definitely_ smitten with Jacqui.

***

Emily woke to the sound of voices. They'd driven into the small hours of the morning, stopping at a house several states away from Maryland. It had been completely empty, echoing with each sound they made. Then the two other men had pulled four cots out of the trunk of the car, setting them up in the living room. Emily's had been placed furthest from the door, so she'd have had to get past all of them in order to escape.

It'd been some time before she'd been able to fall asleep, too worried about the others and whether they'd heard what she'd managed to record of the conversation, if it would be enough. Now she was awake and listened to the two voices. Neither had the British accent of Major, so it must be the two other men. The first sounded impossibly young and worried. "...Dr. Major never said anything about killing anyone."

"You do what you have to when you're looking for treasure." The other voice sounded older, rougher, more cynical. "She'll be fine as long as she's any use to us."

"What happens when she's _not_ any use to us?" There was a hint of fear in the younger voice.

Dr. Major's crisp British tones cut into the conversation. "That doesn't concern you, Jacob." There was a rustle of paper. "Give Dr. Appleton her breakfast. She's probably very hungry."

"She's asleep, Sir." Jacob sounded puzzled.

"No, she's not. She's just faking. Now get moving." The last words came out almost as a bark.

A few moments later, a hand touched Emily's shoulder and shook it. "Come on, Dr. Appleton, you might as well wake up. "Roscoe won't be so gentle."

She rolled over onto her back, gazing at the man. He seemed to be very young, perhaps in his mid-twenties. His green eyes were wide and worried, light red hair ruffled as if he'd been running his fingers through it. "Thank you, young man."

"I'm sorry, doctor," he murmured, handing her a wrapped breakfast sandwich and getting up to help Roscoe dismantle the cots and take them out to the car.

They were on the road just half an hour later. Emily sat in the back of the car, studying scans that had been made of the animal skin, occasionally referring to the few books Major had provided for her. If not for the threat on her life, she'd have enjoyed the intellectual challenge of working out a new language.

End 


	7. A Trail to the Treasure

Chapter 7

**A Trail to the Treasure **

Sleep deprivation was not doing Dr. Emily Appleton any favors. She nodded off in the large black suburban for an undetermined amount of time until she felt the vehicle slowing. She remained as still as she could, listening intently as the two men in the front seats discussed where they would spend the next night, and that they needed gas. Emily had ever so slowly worked her thin cell phone out of one of the gloves she was wearing. Her hand was hidden by the books in her lap, and it was set to silent mode. She pressed the buttons slowly, visualizing the menu and opening a blank text message. She remained this way until the men got out of the suburban to stretch their legs, locking Emily inside. She lifted her head and pretended to continue reading, unobtrusively checking the screen of the phone before whispering a prayer and pushing the send button. With this done, she tucked it down the front of her blouse and resumed her research. She had worked out several symbols and Major had seemed pleased, though the pace she was working at unnerved him. He felt that she was being deliberately slow to hinder their progress—he was right. Stubborn Emily wasn't about to let this maniac get his hands on the treasures of Mount Shasta if she could help it. Working slowly was the only way she could think of to make him angry without further endangering her own life. A very little bit of hope glimmered in Emily's heart. The message had been sent and any second now…

***

Ben flinched in surprise as his cell phone chirped an alert and vibrated, making a much louder sound against the wooden dining room table. He was deep in a book he was using for research—amongst at least a dozen others between him and Abigail— combing for more information on the treasure his mother's life depended on them finding first.

"What is it?" Abigail asked as Ben reached for the phone.

"A text message," Ben muttered as he opened the phone and clicked to read it. All the color drained from his face and Abigail demanded to know what was wrong.

"Mom!" Ben cried. Riley came running from the other room and Abigail tipped her chair in her rush to read over Ben's shoulder. He quickly decoded the text shorthand that Emily had used and read aloud, "Safe for now…unharmed…Cheyenne then Shasta…I love you…Mom." Ben swallowed the urge to cry as Riley went running for a laptop and Abigail ran to tell Patrick, who had been trying to rest unsuccessfully at Ben and Abigail's house and had resorted to sitting in the sun room with a book. When Abigail told him that they had heard from Emily, he immediately followed her back to the dining room and Ben showed the message to him as Riley announced that he had chartered them a private jet that was leaving as soon as they could get to the airport and every occupant of the room rushed to pack and get out the door as fast as they could. If they could beat Major to Cheyenne, they could intercept him using Riley's GPS tracker and possibly save Emily before Major decided he didn't need her anymore. Adrenaline and hope drove them as they boarded the small jet less than an hour later.

Sitting on the plane, Riley stared out the window and tapped his foot nervously. Ben rested his hand on his friend's arm and Riley flinched back to reality.

"What's on your mind?" Ben asked.

"Jacqui. I couldn't get a hold of her before we left to tell her we were going to intercept them in Cheyenne. She's never not answered me before. I just can't help thinking something's wrong," Riley said.

"If Jacqui is anything like the other women in our lives—like I think she is—she's probably way ahead of us, already in California warning the authorities," Ben said.

"Jacqui's intelligent and resourceful, Riley. I'm sure she's fine," Abigail said.

"Emily's all of that, and it still didn't keep her out of danger," Patrick said.

"We're almost there, dad. We're going to get there and we're going to find her," Ben said.

"What if they find her cell phone?" Patrick demanded. "They'll kill her!"

"They can't," Ben said patiently. "They need her to translate any symbols they come across at the site."

"That won't stop them from doing it! They could just find another expert to abduct and ruin someone else's life," Patrick said. He unbuckled his seat belt and stood, moving to the other side of the plane to sit as far away from them as he could. Abigail looked at Ben, who was taking a deep breath and perhaps choosing the words to say before getting up to follow him. Patrick had something in his shaking hands and Ben sat quietly, waiting for his father to make the first move.

"Dad…" Ben began. Patrick revealed what he was holding: an antique pocket-watch. He gingerly put it in Ben's hands and spoke while Ben turned it over in his hands.

"That watch went with me to every expedition or treasure hunt, or fool's errand I went on. Your mother gave it to me for our wedding anniversary and it hasn't left my side since," Patrick explained. Ben gently popped open the face of the watch and engraved on the inside was a message in elegantly scrolled text: _"To Patrick, my love and my treasure, love, Emily."_ Ben read it softly aloud and Patrick bit his lip before gesturing for Ben to flip the watch over and open the other panel. In this tiny hidden compartment were two neatly tied locks of hair; one golden blonde and the other dark brown. Ben swallowed and took a deep breath.

"You see…you were both with me, everywhere I went…even when I left you both behind," Patrick wept. "I owe your mother so much…I don't want to let her down." Ben lost the battle to keep from crying and finally let the tears roll over his cheeks and father and son shared a companionable silence for the duration of the flight to Cheyenne.

When they arrived, Riley offered to drive so that Ben and Patrick could continue to research while they traveled. Abigail held Riley's laptop in her hands, watching carefully for the dot on the roadmap that represented Emily's cell phone as it moved along the highways.

***

When she was allowed to use the restroom the next time they filled gas, she quickly texted again, telling them the name of the place they'd be staying, but no sooner had they pulled into Cheyenne but Major changed the plans and they went to a different place farther to the western end of the city. Emily didn't have another opportunity to covertly use her phone and her heart sank. How would they ever find her now?

Roscoe and Jacob were bringing things into the small 2 bedroom cabin while Major supervised. Emily watched from the sofa, tired from the traveling and more than a little hungry.

"Dr. Appleton," Major said, suddenly turning to her. "You insist on pressing your luck and my benevolence." Emily looked up at him in insulted confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"The translation, Doctor. You must have more by now," he insisted.

"You haven't given me adequate resources to use," she said, "so yes, it's going slowly but I told you this last night. Nothing's changed and I've translated as much as I can with the limited resources."

"You aren't being completely honest with me," he said, tipping Emily's chin up with his left hand. He suddenly raised his right and struck her with his flat hand, sending her spilling over the sofa and knocking her cell phone out of her shirt. He crushed it under his shoe and then jerked Emily off the sofa, handing her off to Roscoe who appeared just as suddenly from the hallway.

"We'll see if Roscoe can't persuade you to be more diligent in your work," he said. "I'm retiring for the night. Until the morning, Dr. Appleton," he said, his misplaced politeness suddenly frightened her as he leisurely disappeared into one of the bedrooms and Roscoe dragged her into the other.

Jacob forced down another swallow of soda as he sat on the sofa, trying hard to stay where he was. Roscoe was not to be trifled with but Emily was sobbing and screaming and he wanted more than anything to make Roscoe stop, but if Roscoe laid into him, it wouldn't do her any good either. Major strode back into the common area of the cabin and sat down beside Jacob. He switched on the television, muffling Emily's voice. He pressed an envelope into Jacob's hands and then spoke.

"You've developed a soft-spot for our guest, haven't you," Major said casually.

"She's pleasant enough," Jacob lied. "What's with the envelope?"

"Some photos that were taken by an associate of mine that is waiting for us in California," he said. "Take a look." Inside, he found snapshots of the park at the foot of the mountain, the entrance to a cavern, the mountain itself, and then a picture of a pretty, strawberry blonde woman with a dusting of freckles bound and gagged, sitting on the floor of what looked like one of the mountain caverns.

"You know what I can do. Don't push me Jacob," Major said. Jacob noted that sometime during this conversation, Emily had stopped screaming. He swallowed the lump in his throat and then looked up as Roscoe emerged into the room, sweat on his brow and bearing a fist full of papers.

"She'd finished the translation. Here are the notes," Roscoe said. Roscoe picked up his bag and announced he was going to sleep in the suburban, where it was quieter. When he had gone, Major stood, gesturing toward the other bedroom.

"Well, I'm off. Go, comfort her if you think you can. We leave at first light," Major said. Jacob waited until Major's door had closed and then clicked off the television, picked up his backpack and cautiously entered the other bedroom. Emily didn't move, but her eyes were open and that was a good sign as far as Jacob was concerned. He immediately pulled a first aid kit from his pack and then a washcloth and two bottles of water. He used one of the bottles to soak the washcloth and then approached Emily. He carefully untied her, his heart breaking when she didn't resist or move when he freed her. The smell of sweat, blood, and other things permeated the air and Jacob forced himself to take shallower breaths to keep from getting sick.

"Dr. Appleton…" Jacob said softly. Finally, Emily's eyes moved and she looked at him, tears streaking her cheeks and blood drying on her lip.

"There you are," he said, "It's going to be all right. He can't hurt you anymore." Emily whimpered quietly as Jacob gently washed her face and then gingerly wiped what looked like Roscoe's boot prints on Emily's bare midriff, waist and hips. Her clothes had been shoved out of the way of what Roscoe wanted and Emily wept as Jacob tried to help her dress. Once he had this accomplished, he gave her some of the water out of the other bottle a little at a time. Major had not provided anything for Emily to eat or drink since breakfast and after tonight's event, Jacob knew that her upset stomach wasn't holding anything down easily. When the water stayed down, he gave her what little food he had left in his pack and then wrapped her in the quilt on the bed.

"Rest now, Dr. Appleton," he said, sitting down on the bed and leaning his back against the headboard. "I'm not going anywhere." Exhausted Emily didn't answer right away.

"Jacob?" she murmured. Surprised to hear her speak, Jacob looked at her.

"Thank you," she shuddered. Jacob nodded, lightly stroking Emily's hair.

"Ben Gates is your son?" He said to her as she was falling asleep. She nodded weakly. There was a pause before he spoke again. "What would you say to him, if you could talk to him tonight?" It was an innocent enough question, but he suddenly had Emily's undivided attention. Jacob had Emily's broken cell phone and had managed to salvage the address book.

"What are you doing?" Emily said softly, her voice hoarse from screaming.

"I'm getting you out of here," Jacob said, getting up off the bed. He took a can of spray lubricant and liberally oiled the window in the room, which faced the wooded area behind the cabin. "Can you stand?" he asked. With his help, Emily climbed out the window but that had been the extent of her energy and she collapsed into his arms again. Jacob folded the blanket around her again and swept her up with a strength Emily would not have guessed that he had. With this, they vanished into the twilight.

Jacob waited until they were a good distance from the cabins to kneel down, setting Emily on the ground, but letting her lean against his shoulder. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Ben's number.

"Who is this?" Ben grumbled groggily as Abigail shifted her weight to let him sit up.

"You don't know me yet, Mr. Gates. My name is Jacob Bonner…and I need your help. Odysseus Major has my sister, Mr. Gates," Jacob said.

"Did you say Bonner?" Ben said, his voice a little clearer.

"That's Jacqui's last name," Abigail whispered.

"Why couldn't this wait for morning?" Ben said.

"I have someone here who can't wait for morning," Jacob said gravely. Ben was suddenly wide awake and pushing back the covers.

"Put her on the phone," Ben demanded. "Now."

"What's going on?" Abigail whispered again. There was a rustling on the other end of the line and Ben's heart leapt to his throat when he heard his mother's voice.

"Ben?" she muttered sleepily.

"Mom…" Ben said, his voice somewhere between desperation and relief. "What did he do to you?"

"Did you get my—"

"Yes," Ben interrupted. "We got it, Mom. We lost your cell signal in Cheyenne—we're here, Mom." Emily started to cry and Ben added, "Oh, God, Mom, please don't cry!" There was a rustle and Jacob was back on the line, giving Ben directions to a nearby road that was far enough away to not be seen by the cabins. Another 45 minutes passed before Ben and Abigail pulled up to where Jacob waited with Emily snug in his arms.


	8. Treasure Lost and Found

Chapter 8

Treasure Lost and Found

Jacqui had flown out to California the morning after she'd spoken to Riley and the others, too eager to help to wait for news from the others. That had been her undoing. While she'd loitered in the area, doing a little exploring, a tall, broad-shouldered man had captured her. "What do you think you're doing down here, girlie?"

"Just looking around," she replied, doing her best to remain calm, trying to think of the self-defense classes her brother had insisted she take. "No harm in that, is there?"

She fought the urge to flinch when a large, rough hand fingered her hair. "No, but you weren't just looking. You were studying those pictures on the wall. As if you could read them."

"No, of course I can't." Jacqui cursed her natural curiosity. The pictures in question reminded her of the document Jacob had shown her, so she'd naturally wanted a closer look. "I just think they look interesting, that's all."

The man breathed a foul-smelling snort into her face. "Sorry, girlie, I'm not buyin' it."

With that, he'd tied her up and gagged her before carrying her further into the caves, where a crude camp had been set up. Her heart sank when he took her picture. Apparently, he wasn't alone in this venture. He was probably working for the Dr. Major that Riley had mentioned.

Though she'd remained outwardly meek while the man held her captive, inwardly she'd thought furiously about what she could do to escape and warn the others. _Why did I have to be so stupid!_

***

"Mom!" Ben barely took the time to put the car in park before he climbed out and hurried over to her and the man holding her.

Emily burst into tears again when her son's arms closed around her, gathering her against his chest. "Oh, Ben, I'm so happy to see you!"

"We've been so worried." He choked out, turning and carrying her to the car. Abigail opened the back door of the car and helped Ben put Emily inside. He froze when the dome light revealed dried blood on her lip. "Did he hurt you?"

An unfamiliar hand landed on Ben's shoulder and he turned to face the stranger, apparently Jacob Bonner. He was about Ben's height, but slightly broader, with strawberry blond hair and green eyes. "We can't linger, Mr. Gates. Dr. Major said he was going to bed, but he's not predictable. And Roscoe is sleeping in the suburban."

Emily flinched at the name and Ben didn't like what that suggested about her treatment. His mother was not the sort who scared easily. "Mr. Bonner..."

"Ben, we really should go." Abigail kept him from saying anything more. "I'll drive so you can sit with Emily."

"Thanks, Abigail." Ben kissed her softly and did as his fiancée suggested and climbed into the backseat with his mother. Once they were all buckled in, Abigail turned the car around and headed back the way they'd come.

***

Patrick paced the cabin Riley had rented when he'd booked their flight, too restless to sleep. He knew Ben and Abigail had gone somewhere to 'follow a lead' and not to worry, but he couldn't help it. His soon-to-be ex-ex-wife was missing and now his son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law had gallivanted off to who-knew-where without so much as a by-your-leave! Groaning, he sank into a chair at the dining room table and buried his face in his hands. "It's not supposed to be like this! We're supposed to re-marry and share the rest of our lives with each other quietly. No more adventures, no more treasure hunts!"

"Patrick?" Riley's voice brought the older man's head up. He looked so much younger in his pajama pants and T-shirt, black hair messy and sticking up at the back. "Are you okay?"

Sighing, Patrick rubbed his face. "No. Ben and Abigail went somewhere and I'm waiting for them to get back."

"Ben and Abigial?" Riley glanced over to see that the door to their room was, indeed, shut. "Where'd they go?"

He gestured helplessly. "They didn't tell me. Said they didn't want me to worry."

"Typical Ben," Riley grumbled, disappearing into the room they'd turned into an office of sorts. When he returned, he was carrying his laptop.

He'd just flipped it open when they heard a car pull up outside. "They're back!"

Together, Patrick and Riley hurried outside, hearts pounding with hope, fear, and worry. Squinting in the moonlight, he could tell that there were four people in the car, but he couldn't pick out who was who. Not until it came to a stop and Abigail climbed out from behind the wheel. "Patrick. Riley."

"Abigail." He barely acknowledged her, his eyes on his son as Ben opened the back door and carefully lifted a blanket-swathed bundle into his arms. "Ben? Is that?"

The blanket moved and relief flood through him at the sight of Emily's face. "Pat," she whispered his name, and then turned away, burying her face in Ben's chest. "No, I can't. I can't."

"Em?" Patrick frowned, coming up and touching her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Emily flinched against her son's chest, tears audible in her voice. "Please don't touch me, Pat. Not yet."

"What?" Patrick glanced up at his son in confusion.

Ben shook his head slightly. "She'll tell you when she's ready, Dad. Let's go inside."

"I don't understand." Patrick stood, bewildered, as Ben disappeared into the cabin, Abigail following close behind.

He turned at a touch on his shoulder. A stranger stood there, green eyes sad and sympathetic. "You will, Sir. I'm sorry."

"Who are you?" Riley asked the question, glowering up at the young man. "Jacqui's brother?"

The stranger narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I'm Jacob Bonner. Who are you?"

"Riley Poole." Blue eyes narrowed as they met green. "Something's happened to Jacqui, hasn't it? She hasn't answered any of my calls for days."

Jacob's expression hardened, his hands clenching into fists. "Dr. Major has her. He's holding her hostage in California."

Riley scowled, pacing away from them. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! I _knew_ it was a bad idea for her to help."

"Knowing Jacqui, you wouldn't have been able to stop her." Jacob's voice was wry.

"Major is going to pay for this." Riley punched his open hand with his fist, blue eyes cold and dangerous.

Jacob glanced at Patrick. "He's smitten, isn't he?"

"Very." Patrick gestured to the cabin. "Why don't you come in while Riley works off his anger?"

The young man nodded and followed Patrick inside.

***

"Where do you want me to take you, Mom?" Ben's voice was gentle as they entered the cabin.

Emily was still gathering the energy to answer when Abigail's voice came from behind them. "To the bathroom, Ben. She probably wants to wash up."

"Yes, that's right," she whispered, feeling ridiculously weak for admitting as much.

Her son didn't comment on it, though, simply carrying her into the bathroom and starting the shower without a word. Abigail came in as he left, their hands catching and squeezing before the door closed between them. "Here, Emily, I brought a towel and a change of clothes for you."

"Thank you, Abigail." She barely managed to get the words out, beginning to carefully undress.

She winced when she tried to lift her shirt over her head. Roscoe hadn't been gentle and she could feel the bruises forming. Biting the inside of her cheek, Emily gave Abigail a beseeching look. The younger woman understood the unspoken request and helped Emily to remove the clothes, leaving them crumpled on the floor. "Do you think you can stand on your own?"

"I'm not sure." Taking the hand Abigail offered, Emily carefully got to her feet. When she tried to take a step, though, her head swam and her knees buckled, forcing her to grab Abigail with her other hand. "No, I don't believe I can."

Abigail nodded and quickly stripped off her own clothes, stepping into the shower first so she could keep Emily steady while she climbed in as well. "Is the water temp all right?"

"Could you turn the hot water up?" Emily requested, bracing a hand against the wall as the water beat down on her, beginning to wash away the scent and sensation of Roscoe's filthy hands and presence.

"Certainly." Abigail made sure Emily was steady for the moment before she turned to the knobs, twisting the far right one.

After a few moments, the water grew noticeably hotter and Emily sighed with relief. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

***

"Okay, Jacob." The men gathered in the living room while the women were busy in the bathroom and it was Ben who spoke to the stranger. "How did you get mixed up in all this?"

Jacob rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I never told Jacqui that I'd dropped out of college. She'd have nagged me about getting a degree, but I had no idea what sort of degree I wanted. I worked long hours at a minimum wage job, but it wasn't enough to live on. Then I met Dr. Major and he told me about this Indian treasure hidden in California. He promised me a fair share of the treasure if I helped him to get it."

"Money motivates everyone, apparently," Riley commented dryly, slouched on the couch and glaring up at the ceiling.

Ben reached over and cuffed his friend's arm. "Riley, be nice."

"He's right, Mr. Gates." Jacob smiled wryly, running his hands through his hair. "The simple promise of treasure had me agreeing to help Dr. Major without any idea of what he was going to do. We broke into the National Archives to steal the animal skin document that would supposedly lead us to the treasure."

The other three exchanged glances. "Well, we were right about that."

"I beg your pardon?" Jacob looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Ben explained, smiling with faint amusement. "Abigail is the National Archivist. She was notified the night the document was stolen."

"Ah." Jacob shifted uncomfortably. "Well, anyway, I suggested that I have Jacqui look at it, since she's studying Native American culture and languages. She couldn't translate it, but she recommended that we contact Dr. Appleton." Riley cleared his throat, looking very guilty all of a sudden. "Dr. Major had Roscoe and I wait outside while he went in to talk to Dr. Appleton. When he came back out, she was with him, a gun held to her side." Jacob shook his head. "He treated her horribly the entire trip and what he did tonight, well, it was the last straw. I decided to get out of there and take her with me."

The men sat in silence, absorbing what Jacob had said. Finally, it was Patrick who broke the silence. "What, exactly, did Major do tonight?"

"He had my sister kidnapped and he hurt Dr. Appleton badly." Jacob hated keeping Patrick in the dark, but he knew it would be best for Emily to tell him the full truth. "I can only guess that Jacqui's being held in the caves in California."

Ben stood up and began to pace. "How well does your sister know Indian languages?"

"Pretty well. That's why I suggested we go to her first." Jacob glanced at the others, wondering if they knew what Ben was getting at.

The scion of the Gates family nodded, continuing to pace. "With Mom gone, he'll need to keep her alive to translate any other Indian symbols they find. She'll be fine for now."

"But he won't hesitate to hurt her to make her cooperate." Jacob clenched his hands into fists. "If he does, he will pay for it dearly."

**End**


	9. Three Men's Treasures

Chapter 9

**Three Men's Treasures**

Ben took a deep breath and then nodded as Jacob talked. "What time is it?" he asked.

"After one," Riley said.

"Everyone get some sleep," Ben continued. "We're leaving as soon as we can. We need to be on the road before Major and Roscoe realize that Jacob's made off with mom."

"Agreed," Patrick said.

Riley and Jacob took the chair and sofa in the common area of the cabin, giving the second bedroom to Patrick and Emily. Ben slipped into the bedroom he was sharing with Abigail and was under the covers and settling in when Abigail returned. Without a word she crept into the bed huddled against Ben, telling him without words that she needed to be held. As soon as he wrapped his arms around her, a shudder shook her body and she started to cry. Ben murmured soothing words and held her until she finally succumbed to sleep and drifted off. Shortly after that, Ben was asleep, too.

Emily was already asleep when Patrick tiptoed into the room and shut the door behind him. She looked so small all curled up in a ball on her side, only her hair and her eyes peeking out from under the covers. It was as if she feared that this Roscoe would come back for her. Patrick sat down on the edge of the bed on Emily's side of the bed lightly sweeping a curl out of her face. She stirred at this, opening her eyes to find him there. She managed a weak smile for him and he moved his hand to rub warm, circles on Emily's back. She purred softly at this, as if he had pinpointed the very site where all the stress of the past few days was lingering. He continued this until she gasped and flinched under his hand. He jerked the offending hand away and she rolled over a little to face him, gently telling him that there was a bruise there from when Roscoe had thrown her on the floor and kicked her. Patrick nodded and Emily slowly worked her way to a sitting position, snuggling in against Patrick's chest as he turned to face her more properly. Her hands were on his chest, tucked beneath her torso as she leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulder. Patrick wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him and closed his eyes for a moment. There was virtual silence for almost a minute before Emily finally spoke.

"Please say something," she whispered.

"I missed you so much!" he replied in kind. "I love you, honey. A million times I love you."

"Oh, Patrick," she whimpered softly.

"I want you to tell me everything I don't already know. I want to know what he did to you—every bruise he left on your body," Patrick said, still clutching Emily to his chest and cradling her. Quiet tears slipped down her face as she remained in that position—protected, safe, warm, loved—and began to recall the terrible event, leaving nothing out though she wanted badly to omit several details that made her nauseous to repeat.

When Emily finished telling her harrowing tale, Patrick cupped her face in his hand and kissed her. It was warm, tender, unhurried and undemanding and Emily responded to it in kind. When Patrick leaned back he got up from the bed, making his way around to the other side and slipping off his shoes before sliding into the bed. Emily inched backward into Patrick's waiting arms and he took a deep breath in her hair before kissing her neck and giving her a gentle squeeze. He smiled when he noticed that she smiled in return and both were easily asleep.

Ben woke Abigail, Riley and Jacob at 6am and spoke quietly with them in the living room to avoid waking Patrick and Emily before he really had to.

"I'm actually debating having you take them back to Maryland," he told Abigail. "You can be there with them and help dad take care of mom."

"You don't really think they'll let you leave them behind on a treasure hunt, do you?" Abigail replied.

"I just don't want them hurt any more than they already have been," Ben explained. "I trust you, Abigail. I trust you to take care of my mom and dad."

"But do you trust your mom and dad to take care of themselves?" said a voice.

"…and each other?" said another. Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Jacob all turned in sync to see Patrick and Emily standing behind them, wide awake, dressed and ready to leave for California, whether Ben liked it or not.

The group packed the SUV they had been travelling in, needing to unfold the hidden third row seats to accommodate two more people. Once they were on the road, spirits just a little higher, they stopped for breakfast in the next town and then settled in to complete the journey to Shasta.

***

When Major rose at seven and discovered that both Jacob and Emily had fled during the night, he thoroughly berated Roscoe for not catching them and then ordered him to find them. Roscoe pulled a laptop from his backpack and clicked and typed while Major watched. He opened software similar to what Riley had on his computer to track GPS positions. He input the information for Jacob's phone and tapped enter. The green dot that appeared on the map was traveling east.

"Where the hell is he going?" Roscoe said.

"Did you dispose of her cell phone?" Major asked.

"I didn't find it here in the house," Roscoe said, replacing the information for Jacob's phone with that of Emily's. It appeared to be going the same direction at the same time.

"Looks like Jacob is trying to atone for his sins," Major said. "Jacob's relationship with his sister must be weak indeed if he chose to rescue Dr. Appleton rather than remain here and save his sister."

"You want me to make some calls?" Roscoe offered.

"Leave them be," said Major. "If Jacob wants to call my bluff, he's going to find out that I never lose."

"You got it," Roscoe said. "I'm ready when you are."

"Good. Jacob and his new friends are in for a very rude awakening," Major said, storming out the door of the cabin.

***

Riley stretched in his place in the second row of the seats. With only Jacob to share the space with, no one was cramped and Riley had his backpack on the center seat and his laptop, well, in his lap. A grin spread across his handsome features and he chuckled in his secret success. Ben smiled and asked Riley what was so funny.

"Oh, I did us a little favor when we were in Laramie getting breakfast," Riley gloated, lacing his fingers behind his head and indulging in a wide grin.

"What have you been up to now?" teased Abigail.

"One of the families in the restaurant mentioned that they were taking their kids to Washington DC," said Riley. "I cloned the devices onto my computer, removed the GPS chips, and tossed the handsets. The windows of the family minivan were open just a crack so I slipped the GPS units in. By now, Major and Roscoe should be thinking that Jacob and Emily are on their way home to Maryland. With any luck, I've bought us enough of a distraction to give us a sizable lead time on them." Emily reached forward from the back seat and squeezed Riley's shoulder as she smiled at him and Ben and Abigail admitted that they'd forgotten all about disposing of the cell phones.

"Emily's was pretty banged up, but I was able to hard boot the device and managed to save the information from it. Where did you get the cloning software? That stuff's near impossible to find outside of the FBI ," Jacob asked. Riley looked at Jacob as if he had just seen the man for the first time.

"What else don't I know about you?" Riley teased, leaning forward to talk to Jacob more quietly—Emily and Patrick were nodding off in the back seat, Emily against Patrick's shoulder and hand in hand. Abigail sneaked a look at them and smiled. Ben raised his gaze to the rearview mirror and smiled, too.

***

The SUV was just crossing into California when Jacqui jolted herself awake. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, bound in the most uncomfortable position imaginable, but she slowly tried to work her wrists as she looked around the cavern. Where had the man gone? Sensing that she was alone for the time being, she wiggled backward until she could rub the tape that bound her ankles against a sharp rock behind her, tearing and loosening the tape enough for her to break her legs free. Without the use of her hands, she worked her way up and ran farther into the cavern. When she felt she was far enough out of sight, she located another sharp rock and freed her hands and then ripped the tape from her mouth without so much as a hesitation. Finally unencumbered by the tape, Jacqui jogged farther into the cavern, coming to a wide clearing in which a room had been carved. Delicate, hundreds of years old paintings lined the walls and Jacqui couldn't help pausing to look at them. They seemed to be telling a story of the native peoples of the area revering the mountain and entrusting to its care a treasure that they regarded as their most prized possession. Jacqui continued along into the yet another tunnel, using a pen and a paper napkin that had been left in her pockets to draw a map and then realized that there was still another object in her pocket: her phone. She was almost certain that she wouldn't get a signal so far underground, but she dialed Riley's number with shaking hands and then waited through the static as the phone actually connected and went through. When Riley answered it on the second ring, he was frantic.

"Jacqui! Jacqui, where are you?" Riley demanded, his hands flying across his keyboard as he began tracking Jacqui's cell signal.

"Riley, help me!" she whimpered.

"We're coming, Jacqui, you just hang in there, sweetheart," Riley replied as Jacqui cried.

"I'm so sorry, Riley," she wept, "I just keep causing more trouble for you, don't I?"

"This is *not* your fault, Jacqui," Riley insisted, pointing to the computer screen where he had triangulated Jacqui's location. Jacob leaned forward and started giving the directions to Abigail and she wrote them down as fast as she could write. Jacqui listened for a moment and then asked, "Riley, who else is there with you?"

"Ben and Abigail are here, Ben's mom and dad are here—" Riley began, abruptly cut off when Jacqui interrupted him.

"Ben's mom? Dr. Appleton?" Jacqui cried. "Is she okay? I'll never forgive myself if something awful has happened to her!"

"She's going to be fine, don't you worry," Riley said, glancing back at Patrick and Emily, now awake and paying attention to everything that was happening. Emily met eyes with Riley and nodded with a determined smile.

"Gimme the phone," Jacob said softly.

"Why?" Riley asked, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't the only one who cared so much about Jacqui. Jacob took the phone anyway and immediately assured his twin that he had saved Dr. Appleton and gotten in contact with Ben and that he was on the road with them to come for her.

"What about Major?" Jacqui asked, rising from her place in the stone walled room and continued walking.

"Seven heads are better than one, sis. We've got a plan and we're going to be there soon. Stay out of sight and Riley's going to talk you through getting the GPS chip out of your phone so that they can't track you," Jacob said. When the conversation was over, the energy level in the car was noticeably higher. They had switched drivers and several switched seats so that Ben and Emily could work together on the map and skins.

All of them could easily imagine the look on the face of the man who had been holding Jacqui prisoner and came back to find her vanished.

"She's a smart one, that girl," Emily said, pointing her gaze at Riley. He nodded, took a steadying breath and smiled.

"We'll have to make sure she knows you said so," Jacob said. "She looks up to you, you know."

"I'm glad to hear it," Emily said. "I plan on telling her personally when I see her."

End


	10. Not All Treasure is Gold

Chapter 10

**Not All Treasure is Gold**

Without much else to do with her time, Jacqui began taking pictures of the carvings on the walls, sending them to Riley's cell phone so he could put them on his laptop for Emily to examine. She'd been pleased when Jacob had printed out photographs of her notes that he'd made before leaving the cabin with her. "I didn't want Dr. Major to be the only one with your notes."

"Thank you, Jacob." She'd patted his hand and tucked the printouts into the satchel Ben had thought to bring along. Now, with Jacqui's pictures, Emily began working to translate the carvings as well.

Up front, Jacob was driving with Riley in the passenger seat. The redhead kept his eyes mostly on the road, but he watched out of the corner of his eye as the dark-haired man periodically checked his phone and sent the pictures to his laptop, which he'd grudgingly entrusted to Ben. During a lull when blue eyes gazed blankly out the windshield, Jacob asked, "I don't know if Jacqui's told you this, but I'm the only family she has."

Riley started at the sound of Jacob's voice, but answered quickly enough, "Yeah, she said you two lost your parents when you were teenagers."

"Exactly." Jacob nodded, pausing to change lanes so he could get around a slow-moving semi. "So, it's my job to ask what your intentions are towards my sister."

"Purely honorable," Riley replied, even as he fidgeted with his seat belt.

Jacob smiled wryly. "Why do I not believe you?"

"What?" The shorter man stared at Jacob in puzzlement.

Smirking, the redhead explained. "You're fidgeting. That suggests that your intentions are _not_ purely honorable."

"I certainly have no intention of using her, and then tossing her aside if that's what you mean," Riley retorted, blue eyes glinting with anger.

He risked taking his eyes off the road long enough to reach over and pat Riley's shoulder. "That's all I wanted to know." He returned his attention to driving. "I want Jacqui to be happy. If you can give her that happiness, I'll be content. If you hurt her, though, you _will_ pay."

"Hurting Jacqui is the last thing on my mind," Riley informed Jacob. "Trust me."

"Oddly enough, Riley, I do."

* * *

Jacqui frowned when her next picture message failed to go through. Then she noticed that she had no signal. She sighed and stuffed the phone into her pocket, unwittingly plunging herself into darkness. "Smooth move, Jacqui."

At that moment, she distantly heard her captor's voice, cursing as he realized that she was gone. After the sound of running footsteps faded, Jacqui moved deeper into the caverns, feeling her way along the tunnels as they twisted and turned, sloping downwards. _Riley, Jacob, I hope you get your asses here soon!_

* * *

A tense silence filled the SUV as they finally reached Mount Shasta. They pulled to a stop out of sight of the cavern entrance referred to on the map. They climbed out and slowly made their way towards the entrance. Jacob stopped them when he noticed the tall, muscular man standing just outside the cavern entrance, talking on a cell phone. "He must have realized Jacqui's missing. We better take him out."

"We'll do it," Ben whispered, indicating himself and Riley. "You get the others into the cave and start looking for your sister."

Jacob eyed both men. "You can fight?"

"I was in the Navy," Ben informed him with a hint of offended male pride.

Riley drew himself up. "I can hold my own in a fight."

"Okay. Just subdue him." Jacob moved back so Ben and Riley could move forward and rush the man. "We don't want to sink to Dr. Major's level."

"Yes, Sir." Ben tossed a salute and the two men readied themselves.

Just as their target hung up his phone, Ben and Riley charged, tackling him high and low. While the three scuffled, Jacob hurried Patrick, Emily, and Abigail past them and into the caves. "You know where to go. We'll be right behind you."

Abigail glanced back just before they turned a corner in time to see Riley cold-cock the guy, and then shake his hand out with a grimace. Smiling to herself, she hurried to catch up to Patrick and Emily.

They walked along the tunnel for a good fifteen minutes before it opened up into a sort of antechamber. Patrick lifted up his lantern to better illuminate it as Emily looked around with a look of wonder on her face. "These are the pictures Jacqui sent us. We're on the right track."

* * *

Jacqui stopped when the sound of several pairs of booted feet walking along echoed through the tunnels. _Is that Dr. Major? Has he arrived already?_ The female voice made her eyes widen. _That has to be Riley and the others!_ Turning around, she went back the way she'd come, her heart pounding with the anticipation of seeing the others, especially Riley. When she noticed light up ahead, she hurried, better able to see where she was going.

She burst into the antechamber just as three men appeared at the other entrance, two of them looking as if they'd just been in a fight. Between them were three other people: two women and a man. Jacqui only had eyes for one man, though: "Riley!"

"Jacqui!" He grinned, relieved, and rushed towards her. They crashed into each other in the middle of the chamber, embracing tightly. His voice was rough as he murmured in her ear, "I was so worried when you stopped sending us messages."

"I lost my signal," she explained, breathing in his scent. "Too deep underground, I guess."

He'd have replied to that, except Jacqui disentangled herself enough to lift her head and kiss him properly, uncaring of their audience. Riley was surprised, naturally, but recovered quickly and responded to the kiss with enthusiasm. Eventually, they ran out of air and had to pull apart, gasping for breath.

"It looks like _you_ get the girl this time, Riley." The tall, dark-haired man commented, his arm around the younger blonde woman.

Riley smirked as he turned to address his friend. "You're just jealous."

Jacqui noticed her brother at that moment and turned to hug him tightly, very glad to see him. He returned the hug just as tightly, resting his cheek against her hair. Both of the men in her life were safe. She couldn't ask for more than that.

* * *

Dr. Odysseus Major stood over Arnold Wilf as he lay bound with duct tape on the ground. He crouched down and ripped the tape from his associate's mouth. "Explain."

"I'd just finished talkin' to you when I was ambushed, Sir." Arnold held still as Roscoe cut the tape binding his hands. "By two men. I heard other voices, but I don't know how many others were with them."

Major stood and took a few steps away, thinking. Behind him, Roscoe cut the tape on Arnold's legs and helped him stand up. "Apparently, I was mistaken about these people. No matter. We will deal with them when the time comes."

He turned back to the two men and, without warning, punched Arnold. "Boss!"

"Don't fail me again." That was all Major said before he turned and stalked back towards the suburban. "Show me that other entrance you found."

* * *

Jacqui and Emily led the way through the tunnels, working together to translate the writing and pictures they found on the walls. At first, the younger woman had felt intimidated to be working so closely with the older woman, but Emily's calm, matter-of-fact attitude soon put Jacqui at ease, especially once she understood the basics of the language.

Then the tunnel they were following opened up into a huge cavern with a gorge running across it with a rope bridge spanning it. Very faintly, they could hear the sound of running water. Patrick, who'd been walking behind them with the lantern, stated the obvious. "There must be a river at the bottom of that gorge."

"Yes, thank you, Pat." Emily's voice was dry, but fond. "It looks like we'll have to use the bridge to get across."

"I don't like the look of it," Jacob muttered, moving around the others to tug experimentally at the ropes.

Ben sounded apologetic as moved up beside him. "We don't have much of a choice. I think we should send the ladies across first."

"Why?" Riley demanded, his hand finding Jacqui's and squeezing gently.

Jacob answered for the other man as Jacqui returned the squeeze. "They weigh less, so the bridge is less likely to break.

"Oh." Riley's expression turned sheepish. "Right."

The three women exchanged glances and, at a nod from the other two, Jacqui stepped forward, releasing Riley's hand. Jacob still stood by the bridge and took his sister's hand when she drew near. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Don't look down. Keep your eyes on the other side. You'll be fine."

"Thanks." She managed a small smile and stepped onto the bridge, holding tightly to the ropes. Swallowing hard, she began to cross the bridge, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the other side, turning to wave the others across.

Abigail crossed next, with Emily right behind her. When Ben started to cross, however, the ropes protested and gave way, taking him with them. Abigail gasped, reaching out for him futilely. Working together, the other men pulled Ben up to rejoin them. Once he was safe, Jacob called across to the women, "You go ahead, ladies! We'll find another way to get across!"

"Be careful, all of you!" Abigail called back, visibly relieved that her fiancé was safe.

Turning, they continued across the cavern to another tunnel, following it for several minutes before it opened into a huge cavern full of scrolls, parchment, and animal skin documents. "Oh, oh my God!"

"It's a library!" Abigail exclaimed in a hushed voice, awed and amazed.

Emily's face shone with delight as her gray eyes took in all of the knowledge represented in this single cavern. "We've found the Dead Sea Scrolls of Native American civilization!"

"It would seem the 'precious treasure' they were referring to wasn't gold or jewels at all," Jacqui observed, her heart swelling with scholarly pride. "It was knowledge." The other two women nodded in agreement. The three moved further into the cavern, looking at all the documents in front of them with a hunger that had nothing to do with food. Playing her flashlight over the shelves of books, Jacqui noticed one scroll in particular that appeared to be more recent than any of the others. "I think I found something!"

"What?" Emily and Abigail hurried over to Jacqui's side as she carefully unrolled the scroll. "It's a history."

"Of what?" Abigail asked, peering blankly at the document. She'd been at a complete loss while the other two had translated the language, so she had no idea what she was reading now.

Finding a smooth, relatively clean surface at the perfect height for reading something, Jacqui and Emily set down the scroll and began to make notes on what they were reading, occasionally conferring and correcting each other as they needed. After a few moments, they compared their notes one last time and nodded.

Emily explained for Abigail as Jacqui continued working, quickly typing the entirety of their translation on her phone. "It's a history of the Spaniards' arrival in the area. The Shasta Indians had only ever used gold for jewelry and decoration, never currency. The Spaniards, however, mined all the gold they could find and took it away. Then they sealed up this place so no one else would ever find out about it."

"And, incidentally, the Shasta Indians' entire store of knowledge," Jacqui added, having finished her typing and tucked her cell phone away.

At that moment, three men stepped out of the shadows. Jacqui only recognized her captor, but she assumed the other two were Dr. Major and his other associate. The man with the gun pointed at them spoke smoothly, "Thank you, Ladies, for that information. You've been most helpful. Roscoe, tie them up."

**End**


	11. From One Treasure to Another

Chapter 11

From One Treasure to Another

The three women took a collective step back as Roscoe grinned and approached them.

"Now would be a good time for a plan, girls," Emily said, her voice faltering for lack of breath. Seeing Roscoe again had not brought back very nice memories.

"Emily, what's wrong?" Abigail said when she noticed that Emily had gone white pale. She looked at Roscoe and then back at Emily and her mouth fell open. "Is this…?"

"Yes!" Emily cried. Before Emily could blink, Jacqui dashed forward, ignoring Abigail and Emily's pleas for her to be careful. Aiming not for Roscoe's head but two inches *into* his head, Jacqui used all of her tae kwon do skills to lash out at their attacker. Stunned, Emily watched as Abigail joined the fray and helped Jacqui leave Roscoe on the dirt floor of the cavern, his nose and lip bleeding and utterly unconscious.

"Are you certain you didn't break his neck?" Emily whispered, coming up to Jacqui's shoulder as they watched her stare down at her vanquished enemy.

"If we're lucky, I did," Jacqui growled. "This is the man who hurt you, isn't it?"

"How did you know?" Abigail said.

"When I asked Riley about Dr. Appleton he said she was going to be just fine. Implying that something awful *had* happened and he wasn't telling me. You nearly fainted when you saw him, so I put two and two together. I got you into this mess and damnit, I'm getting you out of it," Jacqui said. "Major's gone…let's get out of here!"

"What about the guys?" Abigail said. "Should we go back and see if they found a way across?"

***

"Son, are you sure you're going the right way?" Patrick said after they had been walking for a while.

"Honestly, dad, I don't have a clue. We just need somewhere we can throw a rope line across and secure it so we can get over there and hopefully get to the girls before Major does," Ben said in frustration.

"Between the three of them, I don't think we need to worry as much as we're worrying. I mean, that's not going to keep me from worrying but we love them and as long as they're going to be stubborn, smart, *beautiful* and foolish enough to fall in love with us, we're going to worry, right?..."

"Riley!" chorused the other men, Patrick shook his head and chuckled as Ben gave Riley a playful push.

"Yikes! Sorry! We're all thinking it, I'm just saying it out loud, okay?" Riley laughed.

"Let me tell you from experience, boys, they never outgrow it," Patrick said.

"I think we can make it over this part," said Jacob, inspecting a narrower part of the chasm before them. Minutes later, Ben had secured the line and they crossed, breathing deeply on the other side before proceeding and finding the library…and Roscoe.

"Roscoe!" Jacob said. He knelt and checked the man's pulse. It was there, but he was out cold.

"What the hell happened?" Riley asked.

"Did Abigail do this?" Ben said in disbelief.

"If this is the Roscoe I think it is, it wasn't your mother…she'd have been too afraid of him," Patrick said.

"Then it was Jacqui," said Jacob with a wide smile. "She told me a long time ago she'd gotten into martial arts. Wow…she really kicked his ass!" His tone was a mixture of wonder and amusement, as if he was imagining his petite twin sister doing that much damage. "But nothing in tae kwon do would have led her to break his nose…"

"Abigail…" Ben muttered with a grin. "I've been teaching her self defense."

"All right, so Jacqui and Abigail did it. Where are they? Are they hiding somewhere in these God forsaken catacombs or did they escape somewhere?" Patrick said. Distant squeals of surprise made them all look toward a dark passage leading out of the library.

"Abigail! Mom! "

"Em!"

"Jacqui!"

The men made their way down the tunnel and soon were able to see a bit of light in the distance. The girls' voices were getting clearer and Ben was tempted to drop his backpack to lose the extra weight and run faster, but he kept on, hoping to everything good that they weren't too late.

When they got closer to the exit, they could see the girls crouched down behind some rocks jutting out from the mouth of the cavern, ducking for cover. Abigail heard their footsteps first and smiled as they approached, urging the others to move back into the cave.

"Major escaped! He and that goon of his tried to shoot at us!" Abigail cried, throwing herself into Ben's open arms. He held her for a few moments, just long enough to thank God she was safe and then set her on her feet so he could kiss her.

"Forget him," Emily said, nearly buried in Patrick's arms and unwilling to turn around to face them. "We have the key to the rest of the treasure."

"The rest?" Riley said.

"What would you say to a little day trip?" Abigail teased.

"Where are we going?" Jacob asked.

"Dr. Major thinks he knows where to go; he overheard us talking about this history scroll we found that talked about the gold mines in this mountain and how the Spanish took the gold and then hid the mines," Jacqui said.

"I have a sneaking suspicion the three of you left something out," Riley said.

"Of course!" Abigail said with a grin.

"According to historical record, in the early part of the nineteenth century, the Spanish missions in California were secularized and the Spanish priests were expected to leave. It was presumed that the assets of the missions would be returned to the natives, but the colonial powers being what they were, Spain was too upset about losing Mexico to worry about native gold," Emily explained, finally looking up from Patrick's embrace but not leaving the reach of his arms.

"So what happened to the gold?" Riley asked.

"It was never found. Some say that the gold was taken back to Spain," said Jacqui. "But when explorers went looking for the missing mission gold they were unable to find it."

"So what part did you leave out?" Ben asked, beginning to lose focus in all the details that the girls seemed to think was necessary.

"That King Fernando, the ruling monarch at the time," Emily said, "had a brilliant queen."

"Queen Maria Cristina de Napoles had the gold hidden in the one place she was sure that no one would look twice at, at the time," Jacqui said. "The Royal Conservatory of Music and Declamation—the school of music and drama that she started!"

"Why couldn't you have just said, 'we're going to Spain!'?" Riley whined. There was an echoing peal of laughter as the entourage fled the cavern and made for their very aptly named vehicle—an 'expedition'. They were barely out of the cavern when Emily doubled over.

"Mom?" Ben said.

"Em, what's wrong?" Patrick said, immediately taking hold of her shoulders. Emily had one arm wrapped around her middle and the other hand on her thigh, trying valiantly to hold herself up as tears fought their way to the surface.

"I…" Emily paused, not sure how to phrase what she was feeling. She had made it through the cavern on sheer adrenaline, and now that they were out of the line of fire again, repercussions of her injuries were coming back with a vengeance. "I'm tired…I…*hurt*…it's worse than before."

"We shouldn't have brought you out here," Ben chided himself. "We should have sent you and dad back to Maryland."

"If she's not fit enough to walk, do you really think she's fit enough to fly?" Riley asked gently.

"You're *not* leaving me out of this," Emily growled, still staring down at the grass.

"You need rest, mom, and you're not going to get that if you're out here with us," Ben insisted. Emily awkwardly crumpled down onto the grass, crying like Ben had only ever seen her do once before: the previous night when he had taken her from Jacob's arms. The extra rest she had gotten in the car on the way to California and the adrenaline rush that had carried her through the caverns was gone and now she was paying for the choice she made to push herself.

Patrick sat down slowly beside her, hoping to hold her a little and comfort her, but Emily waved him off.

"Em…talk to us," Patrick said softly. "Don't push us away."

"I hate this!" she shouted, gray eyes storming in anger and tears pouring from them. "I hate the nightmares! I hate being slowed down by the bruises all over me! I hate feeling weak! I hate that bloody coward that ordered him to do it instead of beating me himself!" Jacqui was the first to react, covering her face with her hands and turning away as she started to cry. Jacob and Riley quietly tried to console her while Emily's tirade continued.

"I don't want to remember what it felt like when that slob tore my clothes and…" Emily couldn't finish, her hands covering her eyes as if by doing so she could keep the images from playing in her head and the sensations off her skin. One by one, the others joined her in the grass, easing the backpacks from their shoulders and sitting down.

"Go on!" Emily shouted, flinging her arm out and gesturing in the direction of the car. "Leave the old people behind and go find the treasure!" Patrick looked up at his son with a look that said he was lost for words. He didn't want Emily to hurt herself, but at the same time, he wanted to be able to go with Ben and the others for the same reason that Emily did: it made them feel alive, needed, and just a little bit younger.

Abigail rested her head against Ben's shoulder and Riley, Jacqui and Jacob looked at him, waiting for their fearless leader to make a decision. Lead-weighted seconds passed before Ben looked up, nodded, and then spoke.

"We're not leaving them behind," he said. Abigail looked shocked.

"Ben!" she said.

"They need this, Abigail," Ben said.

"They need to rest!" she insisted. "You take care of them because you love them and you want the best for them!"

"Exactly!" Ben yelled back. "What kind of son would I be if I didn't let them come with us? We can benefit from dad's experience and mom's expertise and you know it! You said that I take care of them because I love them. You're right. But because I love them, they're coming along!" There was a tense second of silence before Patrick piped up.

"So…did you just decide we're allowed to come along or not?" he said, waiting for the fallout. Instead, Emily stood up, dusted the grass and dirt from her clothes and said, "You bloody going deaf now? Didn't you hear the boy? We're going…albeit a little more slowly, but we're going." The others stood and took up their backpacks again. Ben and Abigail led the way far enough ahead of the others that no one saw the conspiratorial wink they shared.

***


	12. Proper Treasure Hunt

Chapter 12

**Proper Treasure Hunt**

While the others had discussed whether Emily and Patrick were going to come along, Jacob left his sister in Riley's care and went back into the cavern. Roscoe was beginning to stir, so the younger man punched him again. Pulling the rope and duct tape out of his backpack, Jacob tied Roscoe up so he couldn't easily free himself. Leaving some food and water so the man wouldn't starve, Jacob hurried back out of the cave to rejoin the others, falling in step with his sister. "So, did they decide?"

"They're coming," Jacqui replied, squeezing his hand. "I knew Dr. Appleton was a formidable teacher, but I had no idea it extended to her personality, too."

Riley, walking on Jacqui's other side, contributed his two cents, "The Gates men seem fated to fall for women who are tough spitfires."

"The Poole men, too, apparently," Jacob commented with a fond glance for his sister.

Jacqui blushed and looked down, embarrassed. "You're saying that because you're my brother."

"If what happened to Roscoe is any sign of what happens when someone tries to hurt you, he's right." Riley glanced briefly at Jacob, who nodded encouragingly. "Which makes me wonder why you were captured in the first place."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Well, I kind of figured the guy was working with Dr. Major, so I let him capture me."

"Jacqui!" Riley exclaimed, drawing the others' attention.

Patrick glanced amongst the three young people. "Is something wrong?"

"No, we're fine, Patrick," Jacob assured the older man, shooting a glance at Riley that kept him from contradicting the redhead. "Nothing to worry about."

Looking like he didn't believe Jacob, Patrick turned and slipped his arm around Emily once more, the expedition in sight now.

"I understand your concern, Riley," Jacqui retorted in a whisper, "but it was a calculated risk! I knew Jacob was helping Dr. Major, so I'd be more useful to him undamaged. Once Jacob escaped with Dr. Appleton, I knew there was a risk that I would be hurt, so that's why I left the first chance I got."

Neither man had a chance to reply, because they'd joined the others by the car. Jacob addressed Abigail instead, "Do you think you could contact the agent in charge of investigating the theft of the document from the National Archives?"

***

Agent Sadusky met them at the Shasta State Historic Park. "You really should leave the investigating to the authorities. We exist for a reason."

"We're sorry, sir, but time was of the essence," Ben explained, gesturing to Jacob. "Mr. Bonner, here, has something he'd like to say."

The FBI agent turned to the redhead, raising an eyebrow at how young he was. "Yes, Mr. Bonner?"

"I helped break into the National Archives and steal the Native American animal skin document," Jacob told the agent without preamble, his voice shaking only a little. "I was helping Dr. Odysseus Major and his cousin, Mr. Roscoe Major."

Sadusky glanced at Ben with a raised eyebrow. "Does no one know how to make a deal anymore?"

"In exchange for my help in capturing them, I would like a mitigated sentence." Jacob ignored the comment, though he quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not stupid enough to think I won't go to jail at all."

Rubbing his forehead with a sigh, Sadusky asked, "Exactly how can you help us?"

"Roscoe Major is currently tied up in a cave in Mount Shasta," Jacob replied. "Riley Poole planted a tracker on Dr. Major's current assistant, Arnold Wilf. You should be able to follow them using that."

"You people seem to have thought of everything." Though the words were sarcastic, there was amusement and respect in Sadusky's eyes. "Okay, I'll see what I can do to get you a lighter sentence, Mr. Bonner."

Jacob sighed in audible relief. "Thank you, Agent Sadusky."

"Don't mention it."

***

"What do I tell Nadya?" Jacqui asked her twin when they were given a chance to say their good-byes in private. "She was already worried sick when I left South Dakota."

There was pain and guilt in Jacob's eyes. "The truth. That I was stupid and got involved in something I shouldn't have because I didn't want to wait to get married."

"You know she's never cared about money." Jacqui shook her head in fond exasperation.

"I know, but I do." Jacob sighed, looking out the window. "Too much so, I guess."

Blinking back tears at the longing she could see in her brother's gaze, Jacqui hugged him. "It won't be for long. You turned yourself in and you're helping to catch the others. That'll count for something in the end."

"That's my hope, too." Jacob rested his cheek against Jacqui's hair. His voice turned rough when he added, "Also, tell Nadya I'll understand if she decides not to wait for me."

Jacqui pulled back enough to cuff his shoulder. "She _will_ wait for you. She loves you too much to find someone else."

"I hope you're right." He sighed deeply.

"I_ know_ I am."

***

The ride to the airport to catch the plane to Spain passed quietly. Emily pressed as close to Patrick as the seatbelts would allow, fast asleep while he stroked her hair soothingly. They'd visited the hospital while Ben and Jacob had been busy with Sadusky and the doctor had prescribed strong painkillers and sleeping pills. Ben drove, his expression quiet and thoughtful, and Abigail sat in the passenger seat, occasionally speaking up to provide directions.

In the middle seat, Jacqui, who'd retrieved her things from the Shasta State Historic Park security, had uploaded all the information they'd compiled about the Indian language to make a proper study of it, trying to understand how the older woman had deduced the meanings of the symbols, muttering under her breath occasionally. Riley watched with bewilderment as her fingers fairly flew over the keyboard, ignoring his own laptop. "Are you as much of a computer geek as your brother?"

"No, there's stuff Jacob can do with a computer that leaves me completely lost," Jacqui glanced at Riley with a shy smile. "Whatever small computer skills I have I learned from Jacob."

"I couldn't help wondering," Riley leaned towards her, smiling shyly. "I think he accepts me."

Jacqui smiled back, leaning over to kiss Riley's cheek. "I'm glad. I wanted him to like you."

"Well, he told me that he wants you to be happy," Riley told her softly, reaching up to stroke her cheek. "And, if I can give you that happiness, that's enough for him."

Her smile turned soft fond. "That's almost exactly what I said to Nadya."

"Nadya?" Riley repeated, puzzled. "Who's she?"

"Jacob's fiancée, Nadya Abney." Jacqui pulled out her cell phone and showed Riley a picture of a tall, slender woman with pale blonde hair and warm brown eyes. "We met her in high school."

Riley examined the picture almost clinically, handing the phone back to Jacqui. "She's pretty enough. Bet all the boys wanted to date her."

"Pretty much." Jacqui tucked the phone into her pocket. "She picked Jacob, though, and makes him happy, which is all I really want for him."

He reached up to cup her cheek, blue eyes intent as they met her green ones. "What about you? Who makes _you_ happy?"

"If you haven't figured it out by now, you're not as smart as I thought you were." Jacqui smirked and sat up, ostensibly turning her attention back to the laptop.

Riley stared at her in shock for several moments. That hadn't gone according to plan! Right at that moment, they pulled up in front of their destination.

***

They ended up spending the night in a hotel, since their flight wouldn't leave until the following morning. Ben managed to book three rooms close together. Patrick and Emily's was connected to Ben and Abigail's while Riley and Jacqui's was across the hall. Soon after receiving her key, Emily disappeared into the bathroom, the shower starting shortly after the door closed behind her. Patrick changed into a set of the pajamas he'd brought and turned on the TV, choosing something mindless to watch.

He glanced at the clock when the water turned off, pleased that she'd only taken half an hour instead of full hour like he'd expected. She emerged wrapped in one of the hotel robes, clutching it tight around her, moving slowly over to the suitcases. Abigail had gone to Emily's house while they'd tried to figure out where Major had taken her and packed the case for her so she'd have more than the clothes she'd been wearing at the time of her kidnapping.

Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick noticed that Emily glanced at him over her shoulder before she slowly removed the robe and changed into her pajamas. He noticed the bruises that Roscoe had left behind, but he didn't comment, letting her have the dignity and privacy she needed. When she finished changing, she climbed into bed beside him, curling up against his side. "Thank you, Pat."

"You're welcome, Em." He turned off the TV and shifted to pull her more fully into his arms, kissing her tenderly.

She returned the kiss just as tenderly, but soon fell asleep. He held her for a long time in silence before falling asleep as well.

***

Ben and Abigail shared their shower; grateful they were both still alive. Afterwards, they lay together in bed, discussing their plans. "Should we try to get permission from the Spanish government to look for that treasure?"

"They're probably going to laugh at us for suggesting it," Ben replied, staring up at the ceiling as he slowly stroked Abigail's hair. "Besides, we don't know where, exactly the treasure is. How can we ask for permission to look for it when we don't know where it is?"

"There are clues in the text Emily and Jacqui translated," Abigail told him, resting her hand over his heart, reassured by the steady beat. "Together, the six of us should be able to figure it out. If we do, we can ask for permission and not worry about getting caught breaking and entering."

He sighed, kissing the top of her head. "Let's see what the clues say, all right?"

"Okay."

***

Jacqui and Riley took turns in the shower, climbing under the covers on opposite sides of the bed. Rolling onto his side to face her, he asked, "Do _I_ make you happy?"

"Yes, Riley, you do." She lay on her side, smiling at him.

Smiling in relief, he closed the distance between them and kissed her. She returned it with a sigh of pleasure, sliding her arms around him. This was a better ending to their earlier conversation!

End 


	13. Rediscovering Treasure

Chapter 13

Rediscovering Treasure

Though admittedly, between the adventurers, the week had been the hardest on Emily, few of them truly appreciated what the events of the week had done to Patrick. Usually undaunted—cautious, but undaunted—Patrick had become quiet and a little anxious as if anything he said or did might affect Emily's recovery. In truth, Emily's recovery was going as well as could be expected. By the time they landed in Madrid, she was gaining strength and keeping it for longer periods, her flustered determination actually working to her advantage.

Even with the visible signs that she was feeling better—she curled her hair the morning they flew out for the first time in days, and gave Patrick a genuine smile as he offered her his arm while they walked to their hotel room one evening—Patrick was still afraid that if he were to try to behave more like they had before all of this happened, that Emily wouldn't respond well. He knew that her bruises had nearly all healed, but it was the bruises he couldn't see that worried him the most.

All of this worry and anxiety culminated the third day in Madrid. The first day in the sunny western European country had been busy with customs, exchanging currency, and settling into the hotel to sleep off the jet lag. The next two days were spent in research and reconnaissance on the Conservatory so that they could be as prepared as possible to find the lost Mission gold. Not many of the scholars Ben spoke to had heard of it, and those that had dismissed it as a rumor. The evening of the third day, as Patrick slid into the crisp cotton bed linens, he took a deep breath of the quickly cooling fresh air from the still open window. The fresh air had felt so good that they had decided to open the window when they arrived and Emily had assured him that she would close it before she came to bed.

Emily padded on bare feet out of the bathroom, having just completed her shower. The soft linen nightgown she wore hung loose around her body and the spaghetti straps threatened to fall from her narrow shoulders. Patrick sneaked glances at her as she arranged her luggage and chose suitable clothing for the following day. Patrick had never been so organized. He much preferred to wear whatever struck him as the thing to wear that morning rather than choose the night before. He smiled a bit but then caught himself thinking of what a romantic atmosphere they had here in Europe and bit his tongue to curb the feeling. He was certain that it was far too soon in Emily's recovery to even consider intimacy. Emily noticed this thought process and finally addressed him.

"Is everything all right?" she asked.

"Of course," Patrick said, giving Emily a small smile. "Are you ready to come to bed?"

"I only ask because you've been, well," Emily stopped herself and then shook her head, suddenly smiling and then telling him to forget it. "It's nothing," she added.

"It must have been something if you brought it up," Patrick said. "Tell me." Emily once again brushed it off.

"It's nothing," she insisted. "I'm sure it's only in my head anyway."

"If you don't talk to me I can't help you work through what it is that you're feeling," Patrick said diplomatically. She sensed his agitation though, and her expression took on a defensive stance.

"You know, you've handled me like a glass figure ever since we left that hospital," Emily accused him.

"How could I not?" Patrick cried. "Not only had some strange man manhandled you and beat you and forced himself on you, but the doctor gave you drugs for the pain that turned you into a shell! For days I could do nothing right except to hold you close and listen to the woman I love suffer through the most awful thing that's ever happened to her!"

"Which was exactly what I needed at the time!" Emily cried back, still standing beside the bed Patrick was sitting up in. "I've begun to feel better for several days now but nothing's changed in your attitude! Why don't you just say it and get it over with?"

"Say what?" Patrick yelled.

"Don't shout! You're going to wake Benjamin and Abigail!" Emily shouted.

As Patrick and Emily conducted their very loud discussion, Abigail and Ben were lying in bed on the other side of the wall, listening to every word clearly transmitted through the hotel walls.

"I feel sorry for Riley and Jacqui," Ben muttered. "They're on the other side of the other wall." Abigail giggled softly as she snuggled against Ben's chest.

"Do you suppose we ought to break up the lovebirds?" she whispered, gesturing toward Patrick and Emily's continuing tirade.

"I think they're actually getting somewhere. Give them a few more minutes," Ben said softly.

"Are you sure?" Abigail asked.

"Oh, yeah. It worked like that for a while when I was a kid. I didn't understand what happened after they stopped yelling and slammed the bedroom door until I was much older," Ben elaborated. Abigail gasped softly and giggled again, making Ben laugh for a moment before he held up his finger for quiet.

"Here we go…" he said, listening as his parents continued to rant.

"Who's shouting?" Patrick said. "You're shouting! If Ben and Abigail are lying in bed worrying about us going to blows it certainly isn't because of me! What is it you want me to say so badly that, as usual, I haven't picked up on yet? Evidently I didn't acquire ESP in the past 32 years so I *still* can't read your mind!" Emily took a few paces to the window, slammed it and whipped the curtains closed before she turned back to him, tears in her eyes and evident in her voice.

"All I want is…" Emily began but then stopped. She refused to meet his eyes, her tears rolling down her cheek and off the end of her nose as she hugged her arms around her shoulders. "Oh, sod it…" she muttered.

"What!? What is it!?" Patrick demanded.

"I just want you to *want* me again!" she shouted. There was a space of about 3 seconds in which Ben, Abigail, and Patrick were all stunned speechless. Patrick finally looked at his precocious love and was still shaking his head as tears brimmed in his own eyes.

"What on *earth* makes you think that I don't want you?" he said, too shocked to match her volume. Emily seemed to wilt into miserable tears as she took a few steps toward the bed again.

"Right after all of this happened, I felt so dirty," she said. "He made me feel like I'd been taken from you. For a while, all I wanted was to be held—to be reminded that you still loved me—and you were so careful to give me what I needed that I took advantage of your intuition," Emily said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "The past day or so I thought I could handle being just a bit more, well, normal and I was hoping that you would pick up on that and we could start to get back to the way it was before, but you didn't change, and I found myself suddenly afraid that you…didn't *want* me, didn't *desire* me anymore." Patrick absorbed this for a moment and then offered his bride his hand. She took it and sat down on the bed with him, letting him tenderly brush her tears away before he responded.

"I was so afraid for you," Patrick murmured. "I wanted to do everything just right so that when the time came, you didn't think that I was pushing you to be intimate when you weren't ready."

On the other side of the wall, Ben looked at Abigail and kissed her forehead.

"See?" he murmured playfully. "What did I tell you?" Abigail smiled and rolled her eyes.

"What are you telling me?" Emily asked softly, her gray eyes as wide as the sea. Patrick stroked her face and gently brought it to his so that he could kiss her, filling that kiss with as much of that repressed passion as he dared.

"I've *never* stopped desiring you, and I never will!" he whispered, kissing her again. She responded by rearranging her position on the bed so that she could lean into his chest, resting her hands on his shoulders before slowly moving her right hand up into his hair, deepening the kiss as Patrick wrapped his arms around her. That night, Patrick would remind her more with actions than with words that his inexhaustible love for her was just as tender and strong now as it had been before this terrible ordeal.

Riley and Jacqui, on the other hand, were still much like Ben and Abigail, lying awake and trying not to listen to what was beginning on the other side of the wall. Riley was lying on his back with Jacqui snuggled in beside him, both of them wide awake and wondering if it was more appropriate to listen in utter shock or give in to the giggles that were right there on the surface. Riley thought to himself that he would have preferred a good laugh—he was probably the only man of the traveling party who was *not* getting lucky on this trip.

The young future Mrs. Gates however had no such intention of being quiet. She looked up at Ben and then bit her lip playfully as she reached beneath the covers. A smile spread across Ben's face before he opened his eyes and slowly moved Abigail's hand back up to his chest.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly.

"What does it feel like I'm doing?" she teased. "We can't let them show us up, can we?" Ben smiled, but replied in the same soft, even tone.

"These are my parents," Ben said. "I'd rather not have to think about you and me trying to outdo them at bedroom Olympics."

"Afraid they'll win?" Abigail teased, flicking her tongue over Ben's pectorals and then lightly blowing on them. Ben bit his lip and arched his back a little under her ministrations, finally taking the initiative and rolling her beneath him, fully intending to give her what she wanted.

…and then there was Riley, one arm draped around his soundly sleeping girlfriend, listening to what he was almost sure he didn't want to know about, and cursing his agreement to uphold Jacqui's virtue--visions of her twin brother using him for a boxing target one of the stronger motivations. Jacqui stirred and looked up at him, noting that he was still awake and seemed to be thinking very intently.

"What's wrong, Riley?" Jacqui asked.

"Oh, I was just pondering the mystery of how two smart, grounded, reasonably logical men seem to be completely whipped by the women in their lives," he replied. Jacqui listened for a moment and then secretly blushed a bit in the darkness.

"Are they?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you think—"

"Uh-huh."

Jacqui could only stand to hold back for about another moment before she started to giggle, and then progressed through to laughing so hard tears peeked at the edges of her eyes.

"Great. That's great. That's so helpful, Jacqui," Riley muttered sarcastically.

"Oh, Riley!" she laughed, attempting to sooth his wounded pride with a kiss. Riley sat propped on one elbow and looked down at her.

"I'll show you 'poor Riley'," he teased, taking to tickling Jacqui in every place he could remember that she was ticklish.

***


	14. Treasure Hunting in Earnest

**Treasure Hunting in Earnest**

Patrick and Emily were the last to arrive downstairs for breakfast the following morning. After serving themselves from the hotel's complimentary continental breakfast, they joined the other four at their table. "Good morning, Mom, Dad. Did you sleep well?"

"We slept just fine, Ben, thank you." Though she answered with the utmost dignity, Emily couldn't help blushing a little.

Patrick took her hand in his and squeezed gently. "Yes, your mother wore me out."

"Pat!" she exclaimed, scandalized.

"What? It's true." Patrick grinned while Ben sighed, Abigail looked amused, Riley calmly sipped his coffee, and Jacqui blushed. He gestured to Emily, addressing the others, "There's a reason I love this woman."

Emily gave him a tart look, preparing her tea the way she liked it. "What reason would that be?"

"You have a spirit and determination that refuses to be overcome." Patrick took her hand and kissed the back. "What did you think I was going say?"

Ben cleared his throat. "I'm not sure the rest of us want to know, Dad."

"Ah, yes, right." Patrick cleared his throat, looking a little sheepish. "What about you, Ben? Did you sleep well?"

While sitting at the table, Ben somehow managed to turn into a peacock. "Why, yes, I slept _quite_ well, Dad."

"Ben." Abigail poked him with a finger. "If Patrick can't share details, neither can you."

He pouted at her. "I just said I slept well, that's all."

"We know what you were getting at Ben," Riley interrupted, looking a little impatient. "Can we move on, please?"

Ben looked as if he was going to comment on Riley's testiness, but Abigail nudged him with her elbow. He glanced at her questioningly and she shook her head slightly, indicating Jacqui. The redhead's blush hadn't gone away at all. Clearing his throat, Ben decided it was best to drop the subject entirely. "Okay, we know the plan for today, right?"

* * *

A couple hours later, a group of six American tourists arrived at the Royal Academy of Dance and Drama (formerly the Royal Conservatory of Music and Declamation) in Madrid, with the intention of joining a guided tour of the school. In the lobby where they met the tour guide, they found a portrait of the queenly founder: Maria Cristina de Napoles. "I've seen this portrait on the Internet, but it seems to have been cropped."

"What do you mean, Riley?" Patrick asked, glancing between the young man and the painting. "It looks perfectly fine to me."

The dark-haired young man gestured to the painting with the pamphlet he'd been given. "The version on the Internet doesn't have her standing in front of a stage with a purse of coins on it."

"It's not _just_ a purse of coins, though," Abigail commented, peering more closely at the portrait. "It's almost bursting with them."

Ben added, his voice thoughtful, "They're all gold."

"She seems to be gesturing towards the stage, too." Jacqui traced her pamphlet along the queen's arm in the portrait.

The six of them exchanged glances. Emily voiced what they were all thinking, "Could it really be that simple?"

"The tour is about to start," the tour guide interrupted them at that moment, his English heavily accented. "Please come with me."

Abigail offered him her most winning smile. "Excuse me, but this portrait wouldn't happen to be of Queen Maria Cristina de Napoles, would it?"

"It is, sí," the man replied, his deferential demeanor thawing a little. "The setting for this portrait is in the original home of _Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático_: the palace of Marquess de Revillagigedo, which can be found in Plaza del Marqués."

Abigail nodded, still smiling. "Ah, gracias, señor."

"De nada, señora." His lips barely twitched in a return smile.

"Señorita, por favor," she replied, a hint of amusement in her voice.

He bowed slightly. "Señorita, follow me, please."

The group followed him over to where the other tourists had gathered. As they walked, Riley asked, "Does this mean the treasure isn't here?"

"Probably not," Ben answered, keeping his voice low. "Unless she left directions for it to be moved after her death, which I doubt. We should still go on the tour. We might learn more that could help us."

* * *

After the tour, they returned to their hotel, gathering in the sitting room of their suite to discuss what they'd found. Ben, who always carried a digital camera with him after the trouble with Wilkinson in London, had taken a picture of the portrait and Riley uploaded it to his laptop so they could study it more carefully. Peering closely at the screen, Ben asked, "Can you zoom in on the coins?"

"Yes, I can." Riley clicked his mouse a couple times and the coins filled the screen. "Ah, such a wonderful sight. It's a pity they're not real."

Ben put on his glasses to help him study the coins. "If we're successful, they will be."

"Can you do anything to clear up the writing on the coins?" Abigail asked from Riley's other side. "It's a little fuzzy."

Jacqui watched from one of the nearby settees as Ben and Abigail peered over Riley's shoulders. Smiling wryly, she commented, "It's almost like they're two vultures."

"No, just very intent," Emily replied from her place next to Jacqui, looking through the pamphlets they'd gotten on their tour.

The younger woman jumped and blushed. She hadn't thought anyone was sitting nearby. "I, um, didn't mean to, uh--"

"It's quite all right, dear." Emily glanced over at the other three with a fond smile. "It's a very apt description of them."

After a moment of surprise, Jacqui laughed, amused that Emily agreed with her. Riley peered over his laptop at them. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, Riley." Jacqui smiled sweetly at him. He smiled back and returned to what he'd been doing.

Emily made a sound of approval. "You have him well-trained already."

"I think it's the novelty more than anything else at this point," Jacqui confided, part of her amazed that she was talking so easily with the woman who'd inspired her to study Native American culture and language.

Dr. Appleton paused in her reading, looking thoughtful. "I think you're right." Setting the papers down, Emily turned to face her fully. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"No, not at all." Jacqui turned slightly so she could face the older woman more fully.

Gray eyes gazed curiously at her from behind Emily's glasses. "What are you studying, exactly? Clearly something to do with Native American languages since you were able to help me translate the text."

"Yes, I'm studying Native American culture and language." Feeling shy, she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I see." Emily removed her glasses and tapped them against her palm thoughtfully. "What do you plan to do with your degree once you receive it?"

Jacqui shrugged, tracing the pattern on the fabric of the settee. "I'm not quite sure. Maybe help the Indian tribes rediscover their roots?"

"A worthy cause." Emily patted her hand, a smile in her voice. "Though I would advise you not to restrict your focus too much."

Patrick returned at that moment, carrying a flyer of some kind. "Getting into that palace may be a bit of a challenge."

"What do you mean, Dad?" Ben straightened up, removing his glasses.

The older man flourished his flyer. "It's closed right now."

"Ooh, that could be a problem." Riley frowned as Abigail took the flyer from Patrick and sat down to translate it into English.

Ben squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Do you think you're up to it?"

"Pfft! Of course!" Riley glanced up at him with a grin.

The taller man smiled back, chuckling. "I knew it."

"At least you asked this time instead of assuming," Riley muttered.

Patrick, Emily, and Jacqui looked puzzled while Ben, Abigail, and Riley all laughed.

* * *

At dinner, Abigail explained what they'd found out. "I compared the printouts of the coins from the painting to actual coins from the period and it's not typical engraving for that period."

"We're pretty sure it's a code," Ben added as Abigail took a bite of her food. "Most likely in Spanish, which is going to make it tricky to decipher."

Patrick pointed to Abigail with his fork. "You can read Spanish, though, right? You translated that flyer after all."

"Right, so I'll work with Ben on deciphering the code." Abigail looked pleased that Patrick had remembered.

Ben took over from there. "Hopefully, by the time we get it deciphered, we'll have a plan for getting into the palace."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Emily asked, looking a little annoyed.

Riley indicated them with a wave of his fork. "You three can help by observing the palace, watching for habits that the workers have developed and so on. You may find something we can exploit to get in there."

"I think we can manage that," Patrick agreed with a nod of his gray head.

**End**


	15. Queen Cristina's Treasure

Chapter 15

**Queen Cristina's Treasure**

When Jacqui arrived at the Revillagigedo palace with Patrick and Emily in tow, she realized that the front of the building was far too well protected to attempt entrance there. There were several entrances on the back of the palace, and Jacqui chose the one that seemed the least well guarded. When they returned to the hotel, Riley was already uploading the reconnaissance that Jacqui had gathered with her camera and used the camera's web sharing function to immediately send them to him.

"Nice work," Ben said, when they entered the room.

"Thank you," Jacqui said, grinning with pride as she sat down beside Riley. They shared a brief kiss and Riley returned his attention to the computer screen.

"I should be able to cut out the cameras, but we're going to need some help distracting the guard so that we can slip inside," Riley said.

"You worry about the cameras, let us worry about distraction," Patrick said.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Emily asked, utterly confused.

"I think, my darling, it is high time we had another argument," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

***

"It's right here," Patrick said loudly as he and Emily approached the palace closer to sundown.

"That can't be right," Emily snipped. "Give me that map!"

"You can't trust me for a single second, can you?" Patrick said.

"This isn't about trust, it's about your ability to read a bloody map!" Emily retorted. "You couldn't find your way with a map if it led to your own…oh…bother!"

"*I* wanted to go to Philadelphia!" Patrick cried. "But no! We had to go to Europe!"

"We've seen everything there is to see in Philadelphia and Boston and Baltimore and everywhere else you've dragged me!" Emily growled. By now, the bickering had gained the attention of the night guards, who chuckled and gestured at the elder couple. Emily couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard one of them refer to them as 'those cute American grandparents'. It bristled Emily's feminine pride to be referred to as a grandmother before she actually was one, but she focused again on what Patrick was yelling at her. As the fight escalated, Ben, Abigail, Riley and Jacqui waited in the deepening shadows, shaking their heads and fighting a case of the giggles.

"It's amazing they have a voice left when they're through," Abigail muttered with a smile directed at Ben.

"It's amazing that Ben's still sane having to deal with that all his life," Riley added.

"Not all my life," Ben corrected. "Remember, I had 32 years of virtual peace and quiet in there." Abigail and Jacqui were giggling again as the guards finally approached Patrick and Emily and asked if they could help them. The youngster moved quickly from their hiding place and ducked into the palace before the guards could turn around again. Patrick and Emily met them at the maintenance entrance after Riley knocked out the camera and the entire party took a couple of seconds to catch their breath before going on. Patrick and Emily chuckled for a moment as they took deep breaths of the air-conditioned environment. Patrick turned to his love and lifted her chin to meet her eyes, a smile lighting his face.

"I had no idea you were such a good actress," he whispered.

"You should have seen me in A Midsummer Night's Dream," she replied.

"I'm sure you were as beautiful then as you are now," he bantered. Riley rolled his eyes and Ben gave him a friendly push down the corridor, looking back for just a moment and catching his parents sharing a soft kiss before following them along the way into the main part of the palace.

"Where do we start?" Jacqui said. "This place must have hundreds of rooms." Abigail produced a piece of paper with drawings of the coins and notes on the translation.

"We figured out that there are four coins visible in the painting. We had to translate each coin and then unscramble them. It's a riddle!" Abigail said. Ben enjoyed the excitement in her eyes. Since they'd met, Abigail had really begun to enjoy the treasure seeking just as much as he did.

"The first two talk about the queen and the mission gold being used to build the school. The third says something to the effect that the treasure is hidden 'at our lady's feet', and the fourth says that it will only be revealed when the seeker indulges the queen's rapture," Abigail read from her notes. The others seemed to absorb and ponder all of this for a few moments as Ben did what every Gates man before him has done—he paced the room, muttering softly the translated riddle from the coins. When he stopped, he turned and looked at the wall, examining the designs painted and scrolled onto the surfaces in circles, swirls and other more elaborate shapes. Seconds later, he stopped, his focus coming to one particular design on the wall.

"What is it, Ben?" Emily asked. Ben lightly fingered the design and then called for Abigail to bring him the picture of the coins in the painting.

"The coins," he said. "The coins are painted on the walls." Immediately, each person dashed for the far walls, searching for the next coin.

"I've got one!" Jacqui said, waving them over to an archway that led down another corridor.

"Here's another!" Patrick said from farther down the way. They continued this way until they reached the palace ballroom, where a much larger version of the coin was inlaid into each door.

Upon entering the room, Ben clicked a flashlight on and shined it at the walls inside. Just inside the door was another coin, but this one was raised, like a button. Gingerly, Ben pushed on it and the lights in the room immediately flared to life, making the adventurers stop in awe. The grandly decorated ballroom had a small dais at one end with thrones for the king and queen and there was an area appointed to the orchestra on the other. The team wandered about looking for the next clue, most going separate directions. Emily generally kept close to Patrick, knowing from past exploits that the men in her life tended to press buttons without knowing what they do. They approached the thrones and she watched for a moment as Patrick searched the general area. Feeling a bit tired from the exertion, Emily contemplated sitting for just a few moments on Queen Maria Cristina's throne. It couldn't hurt, right? Gingerly, she approached and then turned; looking as if to make sure the others weren't watching and then eased herself into the chair, blowing out a breath as she relaxed. Patrick laughed softly at this and Emily scowled good-naturedly back at him. Emily rested her arms on the throne's armrests and there was a soft click. She quickly lifted her arms again and she and Patrick discovered a small button on the end of the armrest, where Emily's dainty fingers had rested. When the button was pressed, music filled the air. Patrick and Emily looked at one another and Patrick said, "Chopin?" He grinned and then offered his hand to Emily.

"Would you care to dance?" he said.

"This is no time to be fooling around!" she admonished him.

"Em, do you love me?" he asked. Emily was a bit shocked but replied, "Of course I do!"

"Do you trust me?"

She smirked a bit at this and then replied, "Most of the time."

"Then dance with me," Patrick said with that firm but gentle tone that, unbeknownst to him, usually got him what he wanted when paired with that Gates charm that he seemed to have over her. She put her hand in his and let him lead her from the dais, taking the correct position and then taking the first step back, pulling Emily with him. Soon they were sweeping and whirling in a wide circle around the room as the others stood near the thrones. As Patrick and Emily danced and Chopin's Waltz no. 3 in a minor played, Ben's jaw dropped. Several small, round inlaid panels in the floor clicked as his parents stepped on them.

"That's genius," he whispered. "The inlaid panels act like little triggers."

"What are they triggering though?" Riley asked.

When the song was slowing to a close, Patrick gave his partner two more turns and then held her securely as he bent forward, dipping her low and slowly rising again. Abigail smirked and swatted Ben's shoulder, getting his attention.

"Why can't you be romantic like that?" she teased.

There was a whir and another click and a hidden trap door in the center of the room popped loose before them. The others approached this new development carefully. This was plainly what the riddle had referred to, but what lay beyond the trap door was utterly a mystery.

"How did you figure that out?" Riley asked.

"The riddle said the treasure was hidden at the queen's feet, and that it would be revealed in the presence of music—Queen Maria Cristina's rapture. What else does one do when there's music and you're happy? You dance!" Patrick explained.

Carefully, the group descended into the darkness of the tunnel, not really certain what they'd find. The smoothly hewn passageway seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning until they reached a dead end with three doors, one on each wall. Each of the three wooden doors had been constructed with 18 small diamond-shaped raised panels and had been painted black with the exception of the panels, each of which were painted a different solid color. It only took seconds for the explorers to start debating between each other which door was the way through to the treasure. Jacqui, however, tipped her head to the left and squinted as she took a step forward. She bit her lip and quietly considered each door. She examined the shapes of the panels, the doors themselves, the colors used on each door, and the arrangement of the colors. There had to be a rhyme or reason to them, a way for someone encountering the passageway after Queen Maria Cristina's reign to be able to access the treasure.

Until now, Riley had been dizzily watching as the four other explorers argued amongst themselves. When he noticed that Jacqui had slipped away over to the doors, he joined her.

"What do you think?" Riley asked gently.

"I could think more clearly if they could be quieter," Jacqui muttered. Riley chuckled at this. Abigail wasn't the only one who was incapable of shutting her mouth. "There doesn't seem to be any kind of pattern that I can identify in the arrangement or colors of the panels, but check this out." Jacqui took Riley's hand and pressed it to the door on the left and then told him to do the same to the other two.

"What am I looking for?" Riley said.

"Can't you feel it?" Jacqui said. "The first two doors are made of a harder wood than the third. Spanish Fir would have been hard enough, and common to the area, but the third is made of pine—I can still smell it! Pine wouldn't have been a typical door material at the time, but it was a native tree in California. It's a clue! I'm sure of it!" Riley looked again at the colors.

"I think you're right. Look at the difference in the colors here," he said, pointing at the first two doors and then the third. "The first two only use bold colors, but this third one incorporates more bright turquoise than the others."

"Turquoise would have been a color that the Shasta used in their art, and so was the diamond and triangle shapes," Jacqui said. She and Riley put their hands on the door latch at the same time, smiled in breathless excitement, and then pushed it open, startling the others.

"What are you doing?" Ben cried.

"Wait!" cried Emily.

"Ben!" Riley yelled back.

"Come quick!" Jacqui screeched. The others joined them in the room behind the third door, which led into another passage way and then to another door decorated with Shasta symbols and colors, and in the center was a life-sized painting of a Shasta man. Emily's eyes widened as she reached back for Patrick's hand, which he grasped as he smiled at her and then looked back at the door.

"It's a man…" Riley said. "With a robe and a bowl of some sort…and these triangles…they have to mean something. Guys, look…" Jacqui looked at them for a moment and then turned to Riley.

"Do you have a print out of the portrait of Queen Maria Cristina?" she demanded.

"I've got it," Abigail said, pulling it out of her pack. She gave it to Jacqui and she shined her flashlight on it.

"Look at the queen's necklace: it has the same colors as the triangles on the door! It could be a combination!" Jacqui said.

"Then I suggest you input it quickly," said a strange voice behind them, accompanied by a horribly suspicious clicking sound. All of the adventurers took a step or two back as they turned, coming face to face with Dr. Major, accompanied by Roscoe and Arnold. Roscoe's nose was still bruised and puffy from where Abigail had broken it, and Major was pointing his gun at Ben while Roscoe pointed his at Jacqui.

Though her knees trembled in fear, Emily, who now stood at the front of the group, suddenly broke away from Patrick's protective hands in a fit of bravery only a mother could understand. No one pointed a gun at her son. No one. She swung her small backpack at Major's outstretched arm as everyone in the narrow passage shouted in surprise. Roscoe acted quickly, reaching for Emily and pulling her against him, facing her family, with his arm tightly pressed across her collar bones and shoulders. He now held the gun against Emily's chest while Major picked up his gun slowly and dabbed at the scratch Emily's backpack had left on his face.

"Mom…" Ben murmured.

"Brave to a fault, aren't you, Dr. Appleton," Major said. "The combination, Miss Bonner, or Roscoe gets one last fling with his new friend." Emily struggled but Roscoe held her tight and Jacqui turned to the door with trembling hands.

"How'd you find us?" Ben said. "The FBI…"

"Can only hold a person so long until they must charge you or release you," Major said. "Without any evidence of wrongdoing, he could not keep us."

"I don't understand…" Patrick said in utter confusion. What had happened to the reports they had filed with Agent Sadusky? What about the records of Emily's kidnapping and assault?

"Your little geek isn't the only one who knows how to run a computer," Arnold said, gesturing rudely at Riley.

"You son of a bitch…" Riley said, pushing past Abigail only to have Ben and Patrick hold him. There was tense quiet again as Jacqui slowly pressed the panels. Emily looked into Patrick's eyes, his heart plainly breaking as he watched Roscoe restrain Emily. She winked at him and then used her eyes to gesture toward Roscoe. A second later, he understood. Emily stomped hard on Roscoe's foot and then ducked as she drove her elbow into his gut. He was dazed long enough to not see Patrick's right hand before it struck him, rendering him too dizzy to stand. Ben used the distraction to disarm Major, taking the man to the floor and getting more than his fair share of punches into the man's face before Abigail pulled him off. Ben didn't notice until then that tears had fallen from his eyes. All of his anger at Major for what he did to Emily had driven his hands. If not for Abigail, he might have killed him. Patrick shook his hand out for only a fraction of a second before Emily threw herself into his arms again.

"What on earth possessed you to do that?" Patrick demanded. Emily looked up at him and firmly said, "No one points a gun at our child if I can do something about it."

"Mom," Ben said, coming to them and embracing them both. "Dad…are you guys okay?"

"We're fine, sweetheart," Emily said. Ben helped Riley bind Major and Roscoe, but Arnold had vanished.

"Where did he go?" Riley demanded.

"Riley!" Jacqui squealed. Arnold had nudged his way through the tangle of people to get to Jacqui, pressing her to finish the combination and then pushing her into the adjoining room.

"Jacqui!" Riley shouted, reaching the heavy wooden door just as it slammed shut.

END


	16. Shiny Treasure

Chapter 16

**Shiny Treasure**

Riley pounded his fist on the wooden door in frustration. "Jacqui!"

"Riley!" They faintly heard her through the door, followed by a shriek of pain.

Looking around almost frantically, Riley spotted the printout of the portrait on the floor. Snatching it up, he studied it quickly and pressed the triangles to release the lock. He smiled grimly when the latch lifted up. "I'm coming, Jacqui!"

"Riley, wait!" Abigail shouted, rushing forward to stop her friend. She was too late, though: the door slammed shut in her face. "Verdammet!"

Emily glanced at her future daughter-in-law with admiration. Not many people knew how to curse in another language, aside from linguists, anyway. "Where's the printout?"

"He took it with him!" Abigail exclaimed after a short but thorough search turned up nothing. "Idiot! He could get himself killed!"

* * *

The moment he got through the door, Riley ducked down and scurried behind the nearest shelter, dodging the bullets that came flying at him. "I knew you were sweet on her, Poole! You always did have a thing for redheads!"

"How do you know that?" Riley called back, catching his breath as he finally took a moment to look at his surroundings.

His eyes widened as he realized that they'd found the treasure. It was all around him in glittering gold piles. Arnold's voice interrupted his moment of greedy delight, "We went to MIT together. I doubt you remember me. You were too wrapped in your studies and Gates to notice much else."

"MIT? Really?" Riley risked peering over the top of his shelter, spotting Arnold and Jacqui briefly by a huge pile of mostly coins.

Unfortunately, Arnold spotted Riley and took a few shots, causing him to duck down. "Yes! You were valedictorian and I was salutatorian. I doubt you remember that, though. Had your head full of the Templar Treasure that Gates was always going on about."

"In case you haven't read the newspapers in, say, the last three years, we found that treasure." Moving slowly, Riley changed his position, circling around behind Arnold.

"Big fucking deal!" Arnold sneered, his arm tightening around Jacqui. "You didn't even _keep_ the treasure! You gave it all away! I always knew Gates wasn't very sensible."

Stifling the urge to defend his best friend, Riley crept up on Arnold from behind, planning to knock the gun away before he could aim it. Unfortunately, just a few paces away; Riley accidentally kicked a pile of coins, drawing Arnold's attention straight to him. Rather than retreat, Riley charged. The gun went off and he felt searing pain in his shoulder, but he let his momentum carry him forward, crashing into Arnold and knocking the gun away.

Now freed, Jacqui turned on her attacker, using her tae kwan do skills to knock him out. She turned to Riley once Arnold was out for the count, throwing her arms around him. "Oh, Riley."

"Um, Jacqui?" Riley started, his voice faint. "Ow, Jacqui."

"Ow?" She pulled back, puzzled. That's when she saw the blood soaking the sleeve his jacket in his left shoulder. "Oh, Riley!"

* * *

Ben, who'd just finish trussing up Major like a Christmas turkey, caught Abigail's hand before she could pound on the door. "Before you go doing that, honey, you may want to look at this."

"Look at what?" Abigail stared at the printout in her love's hand. It was of the queen. She looked up at him in surprise. "A duplicate?"

He winked. "It came in handy before, remember?"

She laughed and used the printout to unlock the door. All of them gasped as they entered the treasure room, taking in the size of it, full of gold and gems and other treasures. They didn't get long to look, though, because Jacqui's voice echoed around the cavern. "Oh, Riley!"

"Jacqui? Where are you?" Emily called while they all spread out a little, hoping to figure out where she was.

"Over here!" the young woman called back, clearly almost hysterical.

Pinpointing the source, they hurried around piles of treasure to find Jacqui kneeling by Riley, who was sprawled on the ground, pressing a ripped-off section of her shirt against his shoulder. "What happened?"

"He was trying to charge Arnold and got shot," Jacqui explained as Abigail pulled a first aid kit out of her backpack and handed it to Ben, who quickly began checking Riley.

The dark-haired man stared up at his friend through a painful haze. "Hey, Ben."

"Stay quiet, Riley," Ben told him, his voice and hands steady, though worry lurked in his eyes. "I'll have this done in less than a minute."

Jacqui stayed by her boyfriend while Patrick, Emily, and Abigail tied up Arnold, knocking him out when he showed signs of stirring. By the time they finished, Ben had tied off the field dressing on Riley's arm. Jacqui looked at Ben, wiping at her eyes. "What do we do now?"

"We look for an exit," Ben told her with a calm he didn't feel. "And we contact the authorities."

Patrick walked over to join them, gesturing towards the way they'd come in. Very faintly, the sound of voices talking in Spanish reached their ears. "We don't need to contact the authorities. They've found us."

* * *

The Spanish government was so grateful to them for finding the treasure that they were only fined for breaking and entering and agreed to return half the treasure to the Shasta Indians. Once they explained why Major, Roscoe, and Arnold had been tied up, there was no hesitation in sending them back to the United States. Once he had a free moment, Ben called Agent Sadusky to tell him what had happened. "Don't worry, Gates. Our own expert was able to undelete the computer files."

"Your expert?" Ben asked, glancing up when Riley and Jacqui entered the hospital waiting room, the former with his left arm in a sling, the latter with her arm firmly looped through his right. "Would that be Jacob Bonner?"

Sadusky chuckled. "Rest assured, these men will be taken care of. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Spain, Gates."

"Thank you, Agent Sadusky." He hung up and turned to face the others, repeating what he'd just been told.

Jacqui smiled with sisterly pride at her brother's role. "I hoped he'd be able to do it."

"I knew he could," Riley told her as they all left the hospital together. "We had a chance to talk computers and he's almost as good as me."

Ben, walking ahead of Riley and Jacqui with Abigail, glanced at his fiancée and rolled his eyes expressively. She stifled a giggle and whispered, "He just likes to show off. Jacqui should know that about him by now."

"I'm sure she does." Ben agreed, glancing briefly over his shoulder at the younger couple. Jacqui caught his eye and winked.

* * *

As promised, Ben let Riley settle the finder's fee. He decided on six percent, to be split amongst the six of them. "So we can all have one percent instead of half a percent."

"Are you turning academic on us, Riley?" Ben teased his friend.

The younger man shook his head, looking over at Jacqui, who was talking with Abigail at that moment. "No. I realized that there are some things that are more important than money."

Ben said nothing in reply; he simply squeezed Riley's uninjured shoulder and walk with him to join their loves.

* * *

On the flight back to the States, once they'd reached cruising altitude, Emily asked for a moment with Jacqui. Riley nodded and traded seats with her. The redhead looked curiously at the older woman. "What is it, Dr. Appleton?"

"Do you have plans for your summer break yet?" Emily asked, gray eyes curious.

A little puzzled, she shook her head. "No, not yet. I'd planned on applying for some internships when I got back to school."

"I'm planning on returning to Mount Shasta when the semester ends," Emily explained. "To help catalogue and sort everything we found there."

Longing appeared briefly in Jacqui's eyes, quickly banished. "That sounds like it would be a lot of rewarding work."

"Yes, it will be." Emily smiled faintly. "I usually have several student assistants when I do projects like these and I was hoping you would like to volunteer for it."

Jacqui stared at Emily with wide eyes. She'd thought the older woman was simply making conversation! She hadn't considered that there was a point to it. A grin slowly appearing, she nodded vigorously. "Yes, I would be happy to volunteer for it."

"Good." Emily patted her hand. "I'll send you the application to fill out once it's ready."

On an impulse, Jacqui threw her arms around Emily and hugged her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, dear." Emily returned the hug after a moment of surprise.

When Riley and Emily switched back, Jacqui told Riley the news in an excited whisper. "Isn't that fantastic?"

"If you say it is," Riley replied, a bemused smile on his face. "I'm glad for you, Jacqui."

She laughed and leaned her head on his uninjured shoulder, content.

Ahead of them, Patrick asked, "I take it she said yes?"

"She did." Emily smiled fondly, resting her cheek on Patrick's shoulder. "She's very passionate about it."

He smiled, kissing her hair. "She'd have to be, for you to even consider taking her on as an assistant for such an important project."

Smiling, Emily tilted her head up to kiss him softly. He returned the kiss just as softly. "I love you, Patrick Henry Gates."

"I love you, too, Emily Jane Appleton."


	17. My TreasureThe Finale!

Chapter 17

My Treasure

--Epilogue--

"Riley! Dad! Let's go!" Ben shouted up the stairs as he paced the front hall of his father's house. He was dressed in his fine tuxedo and a thick white rosebud with baby's breath graced his lapel. He adjusted his tie and checked his submariner watch for approximately the 36th time that day as the rumble on the stairs brought his attention to Patrick and Riley making their way down, dressed in similar tuxedoes.

"Hey, Ben, you finally get to wear that monkey suit to an event you were actually invited to!" Riley teased as Ben brushed his best friend's shoulders and straightened his tie, much as he would to a younger brother. He finished by giving Riley a playful cuff across the head before turning to his father.

"The church isn't going anywhere, son," Patrick chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe, but may I remind you that the girls *are* waiting for us there by now and we all know that none of them likes to be kept waiting," Ben said as they walked to his car.

"That's for sure!" Riley chuckled as he ducked into the car.

***

"Where are they?" Emily demanded, focusing on coaxing a stray curl back into place. She convinced the wayward strands to stay long enough for Abigail to pin them for her and add hairspray to make sure it stayed there.

"I'm sure they're on their way by now," Abigail said soothingly. "Or they better be…" she muttered under her breath as she moved to another mirror to touch up her makeup.

Jacqui paced the floor with her cell phone in her hands, a vision in her pastel green dress. The trailing edge swept the floor as she walked, and the fabric rustled with the motion.

Abigail caught sight of her in the mirror and grinned. Her own gown was blue and a similar spring-season shade to Jacqui's green and gave the impression that her eyes were a much different shade of blue. She stood, smoothed her gown and then told Jacqui she was going to wear a hole in the floor. Before she could respond, her phone bleeped an alert message, a text from Riley, telling them that they had arrived. Emily stood, turned to the two younger women, took a deep breath and smiled.

"How do I look?" she asked. Abigail swallowed tears and crossed the room to hug her and seconds later, Jacqui did the same.

"You're beautiful, Dr….Um…Emily," she stammered. Emily laughed, kissing her cheek before looking one more time in the mirror. She stood out dramatically from the girls today in her ivory colored gown. It was simple and had clean, long lines; a silky crepe gown with a matching jacket that if she wanted to, she could take off at the dinner and dance reception that night.

"I've done this before, why should I be so nervous now?" Emily muttered.

"Well, it's been over thirty years since the last one so feasibly you're a little nerve-wracked," said a voice. "But this time, you have a son to give you away."

"Ben…" Emily chuckled, briefly kissing him before he offered her his right arm and Abigail and Jacqui followed them to the back of the church. Emily looked down the aisle that lay before her and trembled just a little. After all, today she was the bride. Riley appeared, quietly spiriting Jacqui and Abigail around to the other side to make their way to the alter where Patrick waited, beaming with pride.

When the music changed, the small congregation of their friends and families stood and turned to watch as Ben led his lovely mother down the aisle and kissed her cheek before taking his place with Riley, Jacqui and Abigail off to one side as the ceremony began.

"I, Patrick Henry Gates, take you, Emily, to be my friend, my lover, my treasure, and my wife. I will be yours, in times of sickness and of health, in times of joy and of sorrow, in times of failure and of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care for and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, forever," Patrick recited, holding Emily's hands tightly in his own. He fought happy tears as he watched Emily's eyes well up while he spoke and then her voice trembled as she recited the vows herself.

"I, Emily Jane Appleton, take you, Patrick, to be my friend, my lover, my treasure, and my husband. I will be yours, in times of sickness and of health, in times of joy and of sorrow, in times of failure and of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care for and protect you, to comfort and encourage you, and stay with you, forever," Emily didn't bother brushing away the tear that rolled down her cheek as they closed their vows in unison:

"Entreat me not to leave you, or to return from following after you, for where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried. May the Lord do with me and more if anything but death parts you from me again."

The congregation applauded as Emily and Patrick sealed these vows with rings and a warm kiss before they made their way outside to meet them as they came down the few steps in front of the church. When they made it through the storm of birdseed, they came to the sidewalk only to see a bright, shiny, cherry-red Ferrari sitting before them. Riley patted Patrick on the back and dangled the keys from his fingers with a grin on his face. Patrick and Emily looked at him in speechless shock.

"Riley, we couldn't possibly…"

"That would be crazy!"

"Come on!" Riley teased. "You hunt treasure! You beat up bad guys! You got married again! This Ferrari's got *nothing* on the two of you. Go on, take her for a spin." Patrick and Emily laughed and spontaneously both reached for the keys. They looked at one another and then as Jacqui, Ben and Abigail approached, the debate was on!

"What do you think you're doing?" Emily chided him.

"I'm driving," Patrick said.

"No you're not! You can't drive manual transmission to save your life!" she insisted.

"Watch me!" Patrick said playfully, taking a step toward the car. Emily followed him, still insisting that he would ruin Riley's beautiful car if he tried to drive it without knowing how.

"What makes you think that I didn't learn to drive a stick shift in the last 32 years?" he said, turning to her.

"You haven't learned to fold your own laundry let alone learn to drive a manual," Emily retorted. Ben shook his head as he listened to them and then whistled shrilly to get their attention. He went to them, resting a hand on each one's shoulder.

"Dad…your pride isn't that sacred, is it? Is it?" Ben asked, pausing while his father muttered something unintelligible but nonetheless conceding. He then turned to his mother and continued. "And mom…" Emily looked at Ben as he lowered his sunglasses and got just a little closer to her eye level before he said, "Get in the goddamn car." Emily closed her mouth, her lips drawing into a smile that said everything and then nodded, patting Ben's cheek as she took a step forward and then turned back to him.

"Very good, Benjamin," she said. "Very good."

When both were seated and seatbelts were fastened, Emily leisurely tossed her small bouquet to Abigail.

"I don't think there's any great mystery—the two of you are next," she said with a grand smile. The youngsters laughed as Patrick turned the key and both laughed nervously at the powerful sound of the engine. As they drove out of sight, Jacqui wrapped her arms around Riley's right arm and playfully leaned against him.

"I want to be just like them someday," she said with a grin.

"In what way?" Ben asked, his left arm draped leisurely around Abigail's waist. Riley smiled and turned his head to meet hers, his other hand stuffed in his pocket and reveling in Jacqui's scent—the perfume he'd given her.

"Stubborn, independent, and head-over-heels in love," she said. The four of them turned and began walking toward the limousine that waited to carry them to the reception.

"So," Abigail said spontaneously, "do you suppose the world is ready for another Gates?" All motion stopped and Ben, Riley and Jacqui looked at her, wide eyed and smiling. Ben was still shaking his head for the shock she had just given him.

"A baby…" he said softly. Abigail bit her bottom lip playfully and lifted the hand that Ben wasn't currently holding—wiggling two fingers before his eyes. Ben's eyes grew wider in wonder, only to be brought back to reality as Riley clapped him on the back and Jacqui threw her arms around Abigail.

Abigail looked at Ben, plainly still as shocked as he was right now. Ben's anxiety seemed to melt from his expression to be replaced by sheer joy as he picked Abigail up and swung her around in a circle. Apparently, the next chapter of this family's tale was right around the corner.

THE END!


End file.
